Defeated
by 1upninja
Summary: Rachel just held up her hand and pulled the blade across her palm, holding it out for the group to watch as the skin nit itself back together."I knew it that's so lame." Santana's voice shook slightly as she took a hesitant step back and pulled Brittany with her. "What hell can you do with that?" "I can be fearless." Then Rachel turned and walked away from them. Assassin!Rachel
1. Chapter 1

**AN: So I', super excited about this, just thought you should know. This is very AU, and this is a very different Rachel Berry. This is kind of Glee meets X-men. (it was really bound to happen at some point with me) Specifically I borrowed from the character Laura 'X-23' Kinney and messed with her back story and gave it to** **this Rachel. If you don't know who that is, that's cool, not everyone reads comic books, you won't need to have read them to understand what's going on though if you have it may give you an idea of how the story is going to go. Anyway, very AU Rachel, though I will be trying to keep most of the rest of the cast as similar as I can (with the addition of some of them having super powers.) I don't own Glee, I'm nowhere near cool enough to own X-Men, and I don't own the song Defeated by Anastacia, which helped inspire this fic. So please enjoy and I would love to hear from you if you have any comments. Have a good one.**

* * *

_You can tear me apart, you can rip me to pieces_

_Try breaking me down but I'll never be beaten_

_You can say that you won, but I'll never believe it_

_Cause I can't be defeated_

_Made a mistake, swore I'd never repeat it_

_Lost my heart for a second but it never stopped beating_

_I smile through the tears so the way that I see it_

_I can't be defeated_

* * *

_Age 7_

This was to be her first solo mission, everything she had been trained for and all that she was was riding on how well she executed her task, how well she executed her target. Of course she had gone out before this, but always with her group, and now she was the first to branch off. She wasn't even the oldest, but she was the best. The others knew it, and feared her for it even if they never said. She wasn't sure what this would be like, without the others, but she liked that they had a chance to not go out on mission, she hoped they got a little rest.

The black leather of her uniform fit snugly against her small body, it felt like a second skin, and after performing a few of her more advanced techniques she learned that it moved that way as well. This one was new, she had grown recently and her last uniform had needed to be replaced, the leather wasn't as soft or as flexible as her old uniform. After lacing up her black steel toed combat boots and tightening the straps to her weapons belts, she felt ready. Giving herself one last look over in the mirror, were she knew the white coats where watching her, she saw the smaller than average girl she was. The twin pistols latched to her thighs looked too big, but the weight was familiar, the two extra magazines on the back of her belt were she could easily access them felt safe, she knew she wouldn't need them but she was still technically new, with only a dozen missions to her name, and the white coats didn't want her to make them look bad to the black coats.

Her hair long brown hair was pulled back into an almost uncomfortably tight pony tail on the back of her head, and over her right shoulder she could see the hilt of her katana. She didn't really need it, and if she had to resort to it then the target was much more than what the black coats thought. She was a master marksman and a black belt in the six different fighting styles she knew, but when the white coats had first put the sword in her hand it was like watching an artist, and artist that only used red. Looking down at her hands, and adjusting her fingerless gloves for the eleventh time since she had put them on, she looked at her hands, the hands of seven year old girl who was about to become a murderer and wondered how many more times she would dawn this same uniform before someone better came along and she didn't make it back. She hoped it was soon.

The door clicked as the heavy lock unlatched and the door to her quarters swung inward, looking up she saw her mother, in her white lab coat, _she's not your mother right now._ She was a beautiful woman and as she got closer and crouched down in front of the girl, she couldn't help but hope that one day, if she managed to make it, she would look just like her.

"Are you ready?" Her mother put a heavy hand on her shoulder, looking her right in the eyes, the matching deep Cinnamon brown staring into each other, she just nodded, fisting her hands tightly. She wasn't even nervous, she knew she wouldn't fail, there were even doubts that she ever would, and her mother could see it. "Come along then." Her mother took her hand and stood up with a deep sigh and lead her from the room where they were immediately flanked by two large, well equipped, men who were there so that she would be put down quickly if she ever tried to make a move to escape. Truthfully she had no idea why she would ever try to escape, she would rather just die.

She was lead down the hall and past where she knew the quarters of her comrades were, J was two years older than her and should have been the first of them to be approved for solo missions, he was all they would have wanted, cold and calculated, a genius hacker and master of all things stealth, but he was also quick to lose his temper and when that happened he didn't always stick to the plan. He was unbalanced, and had never quiet learned how to take orders. B was a year younger and at only six years old was still in training, though he seemed to hold so much promise that he was approved for group missions a whole eight months before she had been. Her mother finally led her into the briefing room where three black coats waited for her looking over the file that would soon be handed over to her.

"Ah yes, Gentlemen, this is Project R, she shows the most promise out of this bunch, only seven years labor went into building this one." The Black coats talked about her like she wasn't there, like she couldn't understand them, like she was some kind of tool to be brought out when they required her; which she guessed she was. "As you know, there are still a few kinks to work out with Project J, so this will be the first solo mission; as such we have chosen a target that should challenge the program and test the limits of Project R's ability." The Black coat handed the manila folder to her mother to give to her and when she opened it she saw that there wasn't only one target, but a family of five, and not just any family, but the oldest male was running for congress. This was high profile, meant to make a statement; she looked over the layout of the building where the targets would be, a plan already forming. It wouldn't be very difficult at all.

* * *

_Present Age 17_

Rachel didn't understand why she had to go to high school, she had gotten her diploma at the time when most of the children she would soon be spending time with were still learning their multiplication tables, and she probably knew biology and anatomy as well as any practicing surgeon. Yet her mother insisted, apparently it would be good to interact with people her own age without being ordered to kill them.

Rachel liked the feel of her heavy denim jeans, they were sturdy, and though they weren't the second skin of her leather uniform, she could get used to them. And she was, she had only been out for two years, things took time. Rachel laced her worm steel toed combat boots, with a sheathed knife tucked into her right boot. Her mother had tried to get her to like girly shoes, but she couldn't fight in them, well she could she just didn't want to have to. It also just felt wrong to go anywhere unarmed, though her mother would take the knife if she knew Rachel planned to take it to school. Rachel had decided on a dark forest green tank top to wear under her worm leather jacket, with another knife sewn into a secret pocket just under her left arm.

Grabbing her messenger bag, Rachel ran through what she had one last time, her notebook and pencil, the books she was told to acquire for her classes though she would need to get her textbooks from the school itself, an extra tank top and underwear rolled together with four protein bars in case she was found and needed to disappear, another knife and her trusted Glock 19 with extra magazine sewn into the bottom of the bag, and a hundred dollars in tens and twenties for random emergencies. All she needed was the bag lunch her mother was packing for her down stairs. Rachel grabbed her practically indestructible and solar powered military grade wrist watch from her bedside table and put it on while making her way down the ladder from her attic bedroom.

"Good morning Rachel." Shelby said as Rachel walked into the kitchen and grabbed an apple out of the fruit bowl, she had come into the room purposefully scuffing her feet on the floor as not to startle the older woman, again, but sometimes the girl would forget and could walk so silently that it made Shelby nearly jump out of skin when Rachel was suddenly beside her. Her daughter merely nodded and Shelby handed the girl the brown paper bag with her lunch then held out her hand and rose an eyebrow. Rachel silently pulled the knife from her boot and handed the weapon over to the woman and shrugged at her before tucked her lunch in her bag then finished her apple. After tossing the core in the garbage and saluting her mother, Rachel left the house to walk to school.

Rachel had registered at school as Rachel Berry, instead of Rachel Corcoran, that way if her mother was found that only people who looked into her specifically would make the connection between the two. There was no denying they were mother and daughter if standing next to each other, but as long as that didn't happen, and Shelby had an extra phone she knew to answer as Mrs. Berry to, then everything would be fine.

On her way to school, Rachel went over her mental map again. She had broken into the building a few nights before and walked to halls, picking out the fastest routes to and from certain classes, and from all her classes to all the exits. Then she had gone over picking the locks of certain rooms and windows, she had also found all the walls weakest points in case she had to make her own exit. Rachel was as prepared as she could be, but she still felt like something was going to happen, she was anxious and nervous, but not scared, Rachel didn't get scared.

* * *

Rachel had never seen so many teenagers in one place before, there were at least a hundred milling around the front entrance alone, all looking at her. It made her itch to be invisible, to just disappear and run from this place and never look back; she just wanted to live in peace. Rachel was never going to have peace in a place like this. Rachel made a quick sweep of the grounds, taking in the locations of all the children, and deciding which were possible threats, none seemed particularly daunting, though neither did she.

There a few of the bigger boys, who all wore matching jackets, putting some smaller boy into the garbage and laughing; Rachel wondered what the point of that was, deciding it was probably metaphorical, but ignored them as they did her. There were also a large group of girls that all had the same uniform on, and though Rachel did note that it would be easy to move in as there was only a short skirt, it didn't offer enough protection from attack, so Rachel just frowned at them in confusion. Teenagers made no sense.

Inside the building, Rachel made her way to where the principal was located so she could check in and officially get her schedule, the stolen copy she had printed off in her first trip here had been burnt after she had memorized it, this was merely a formality.

The glass walls of the main office made Rachel more nervous than the two adults in the room, anyone could walk by and see her and while it looked strong enough for a grown man to throw himself against and not shatter, it defiantly wasn't bulletproof. Rachel hugged her leather jacket closer to her body as she fisted her hands in her pockets; the weight of the knife under her arm was little comfort against the thought of a semi-automatic. The man in charge of the school, a Mr. Figgins, was smaller than she expected he, he also slightly frightened by her cold attitude towards him, but at least being feared was something Rachel was comfortable with.

After a long winded welcome, and slightly disturbing once over of her body, Mr. Figgins released her to find her first class. After leaving the main office Rachel was stopped by a red haired woman from across the hall, who also had glass walls to her office. Didn't these people know anything about safety?

"You must be Rachel Berry." The woman was taller than Rachel, but still small, and had large eyes and what seemed to be a carefully put together appearance; though Rachel only saw the tactical disadvantage of Pencil skirts, and large broaches made excellent targets for snipers. But Rachel only nodded, Shelby once told her that most people don't think about that sort of thing when getting ready for the day, and mostly saying anything of that nature would just upset them. "I'm Ms. Pillsbury, the Guidance Councilor here at McKinley, and if you ever need anything or just want to talk to someone, you should know that my door is always open."

She smiles then, but Rachel tries to keep her face the neutral if slight frown that she had been wearing since before she could remember. Rachel can't help but think about if she were to tell this woman things, that she would most likely call the police and Rachel would either be right back in the hands of those she has been running from, or just killed.

"Here, how about I find someone to help you find your way around." The woman looked around the hall of passing students, most trying to avoid eye contact and the job of looking after the new kid. Her face lit up as she seemed to spot someone, but Rachel stopped her.

"That will not be necessary, thank you." Rachel wasn't quite sure what she was thanking the woman for, but it seemed the right thing to do, then she started walking off, leaving the woman behind. After making her way through the crowded hallway to her first class, Rachel saw that the seat she had chosen before, back row center, was already taken. Rachel frowned at the Latina girl who wore the same uniform she had seen earlier, but deiced that the seat in the back corner nearest the window would just have to do. There were 23 kids already seated, and 30 desks, so most of the kids were already there, Rachel just made her way to the back silently and put her bag next to her, she scanned everyone in the room, some of the students looked fit enough to be possible threats, but most were looking at her and Rachel knew that most assassins would ignore the target to not give themselves away. The teacher was an older man, who looked fragile, so she saw no immediate threat. Rachel felt eyes on her then and turned, the girl who was in her seat was scowling at her, but then the teacher walked in.

"Class today we have a new transfer student." The older man who would be her Physics teacher said as the last of the students filed in with the bell, Rachel noted that a blonde girl who also wore a uniform sat next to the Latina girl. "Ms. Rachel Berry, would you like to say anything about yourself?"

"No." There was a smattering of snickers, but the teacher didn't seem angry that she had caused a disruption, maybe he could tell she hadn't meant any disrespect.

"Alright then, class please make Ms. Berry feels welcome and as it is the middle of the semester don't hesitate to ask for help when you need it." Rachel knew it was said more towards her, but she felt that it could also be a subtle shout out to those students that may be struggling. "Let's jump in then, shall we."

Rachel hadn't studied in a very long time, and knew that if she wanted to pass with a satisfactory grade then she should at least take a few notes, but once things got rolling things seemed to click back into place and her notebook only had half a page worth of writing. The bell rang before she knew it and Rachel tucked her notes and pencil back into her bag before making her way to her next class. Rachel was pleased to see that this time the seat she had pre chosen was not taken. After sitting down she noted that this was another class were she would need a textbook, she would have to go to the library during her lunch period and acquire them.

"Hey." The blonde from her other class was also in this one, and seemed to have choose the desk next to hers. Rachel breathed in slowly through her nose and reminded herself that this was a school; these children didn't have reason to be afraid of her, then turned and looked into a pair of the most striking hazel eyes she had ever seen. "I'm Quinn, Rachel right?"

"Yeah, hi." Rachel noted that the blonde was looking her right in the eye, not many people had the nerve to do that. It was quiet then, Quinn just looking at her as if Rachel were going to offer up something for them to speak about, but she wouldn't, then Quinn pushed the open book on her desk towards the edge.

"Do you want to read from my book until you get your own?" Rachel just nodded and gave a small quirk of her lips into what she thought might be a smile. Then a boy was sitting down in front of the pair and had turned to face them.

"Ah, you must be the new girl that I've heard about, Kurt Hummel." Rachel looked away from Quinn and towards the small boy she had seen being put in the garbage earlier, and once they made eye contact she felt a slight pressure in her head. Rachel eyes widened for a second before she furrowed her brows at the boy. He looked startled and confused before his eyes darted to Quinn's for a second, the boy remained silent though so Rachel carried on as if nothing had happened.

"I'm Rachel." Kurt was looking at her as if she had two heads, before the teacher walked in and called them to attention. The class was boring, and Rachel probably knew more about American History than her text book, but she stayed quiet, as the last thing she wanted to do was call attention to herself. When the class ended, Rachel thanked Quinn with a slight tilt of her head as she packed up her things before making her way out of the room. It took no time at all for her to realize that Kurt was following close behind her. Rachel just looked over her shoulder at the boy who was gently trying to push his way into her brain without her noticing. When the two made eye contact, Kurt stopped moving as Rachel projected all the pain and anger she could out past her mental shields and towards the boy, causing to stumble and almost fall to the ground. But Rachel was beside him, holding him up, and whispering in his ear before he knew what was happening. "You want to stay out of my head telepath, I might not be as gentle next time you try. Understand?" Kurt nodded dumbly, before he found his feet and brushed the invisible lint from his fancy looking grey blazer.

"You call that gentle?" When Rachel said nothing Kurt's eyes widened slightly before he looked slightly ashamed of himself. "I'm sorry, it's just that I've never meet someone who was able to keep me out before. I was intrigued."

"That's understandable, there probably aren't any other telepaths for a hundred miles, and while there must be at least ten other mutants in the building, telepathy is a rare gift." Rachel glanced down at her watch and noted she needed to get moving if she didn't want to be late for her next class. Tardiness was unacceptable. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have class." Before she even made a move to leave Kurt was snatching the class schedule from her hand and looking at it before lacing one of his arms through hers.

"We have AP English together, I can show you were it is." Kurt looked Rachel over for a moment before he just could hold his tongue anymore. "So how do you know how to block me? You aren't a telepath." It wasn't a question, and Rachel knew that if she had been a telepath Kurt would have sensed her the moment she at stepped within a hundred yards of him. "You didn't even make a big deal out of know what I am, so I'm guess you're a mutant too. What can you do?"

"I am none of your concern, and if you knew what was good for you then you would just leave me alone." The tone Rachel used wasn't very threatening; in fact she said it like she was talking about the weather and Kurt was taken aback by it. This girl was defiantly something else.

"Well I never have done what was good for me."

The two walked in silence then and when they did finally make it to the next class Rachel broke off from the slight boy. He had chosen a seat more towards the middle of the room, and while he looked like he was expecting her to join him, that was not the seat that was the most strategically safe. Kurt made no move to get back up though and Rachel just shrugged when he looked back at her. Then a girl was putting herself in the chair next to her, Rachel felt eyes on her, and when she looked up the brunette Latina from her first class was glaring back at her.

"Look, I know you're new here and everything and that you don't know how things work around here yet. But this is my spot, and no one ever sits next to me, so you're gonna want to move your ass unless you want it handed to you on a platter." The girl seemed very sure that she was the boss; Rachel didn't want to cause a stir with the schools populous, that would just get her more noticed than she already was. But when Rachel looked up to look around the room to find a new seat for herself and she saw that there were none, she just looked back at the girl who was still glaring at her.

"It seems to me that the reason no one ever sat here before was because they all had their own seat, but now that I'm here there are no other open places. So you are just going to have to deal with me unless you want to sit on the floor." Rachel may have come across as slightly rude, but if it really came down to violence than Rachel was sure she could dispatch this high school girl quiet easily. The two just looked at each other for a moment and Rachel took her time to really see the girl, she was quiet beautiful and her dark brown eyes had an almost feral quality to them, Rachel wondered if anyone had ever stood up to her before.

The teacher walked in then, but Rachel still refused to look away first, it was a dominance game now, and she knew that she would be perceived as the loser if she looked away first. Submissive was something that Rachel had promised herself years ago that she would never be again, the context didn't matter, Rachel needed to be in control of herself after years of having no choice. When the girl scoffed and shifted in her seat to face the front, Rachel barley kept the small grin off her face.

The class passed slowly, English had never been Rachel strongest subject; she just could not seem to relate to any of the characters on any terms, she blamed her upbringing, like she did most things. But when the class finally ended and Rachel made her way into the hall Kurt was beside her again immediately and leading her to a bathroom; when they made it and found it empty Kurt just looked at her for a second.

"So they girl you just smacked down was Santana Lopez, and I know that name means nothing to you, but she's basically in charge of the school. She's one of the co-captains of the Cheerios, and you simply do not mess with her unless you want to end up in the hospital." Rachel just looked at the boy and furrowed her eyes brows slightly.

"What's a Cheerio?"

"It's our schools Cheerleaders." When Rachel's brows wrinkled further Kurt couldn't stop his jaw from dropping slightly. "You do know what a cheerleader is, right?"

"I've been, homeschooled, since before this year." Which was sort of not to far from the truth, and really Rachel didn't see any reason to be honest with this boy, he had shown far too much interest in her and she didn't know if he was a spy sent to bring her back yet or not.

"But that doesn't," Kurt just stopped and huffed out a long breath before speaking again. "They sort of, encourage and boost the spirit of the sports teams. It's all gymnastics and cheering, but more than that, is that they can get away with basically anything at this school because their coach is a mad woman who even the Principal is afraid of and you basically just spat in the queen bitch's face."

"Is that what the uniform was about?" Kurt just nodded and tried not to yell at this new, strange, girl who had giving him a headache for the first half of class just by projecting her thoughts so loudly at him while keeping him out of her head at the same time. He really didn't want to pick a fight with her, but she shouldn't want to pick a fight with Santana either, she had claws and she knew how to use them. "Thank you for the warning about her, but I'm not afraid of some high school girl with a superiority complex. Now I have to get to my next class, see you around Kurt." Then Rachel walked out on the boy, who was still just standing in a girl's bathroom, she hadn't brought it up to him, but she thought it strange that he was comfortable enough with himself to be in there.

Her next class passed faster than the one before it, but mostly because math had always been easier for her, it was all equations that when executed correctly came out beautifully and cleanly. No one had made a fuss with her, and she even got a smile from the Asian boy who she had seated herself next to. They hadn't spoken and that was just the way Rachel liked it. After Calculus was over Rachel had her lunch period, and after that she had a free, it seemed ridiculous to her to have a school give a student a free period. What was she supposed to do with an hour?

* * *

Rachel had walked by the lunch room, it was filled with laughing teenagers and disgusting looking food, so Rachel just kept walking and went right by it. Rachel needed a little peace and quiet after the loud morning she had had and her usually quiet days, so she went in search of a place where she could find it again. She stumbled upon the auditorium by accident, but it was big and Rachel knew it would be just what she needed. Making her way up onto the stage, Rachel looked up at the cat walk; no one would see her up there if anyone did happen to walk in. This would be her lunch room.

Rachel climbed up the two ladders and sat herself down at about two stories above center stage with her feet dangling over the edge and her shoulders pressed against wire cables. Her mother had made her a peanut butter and grape jelly sandwich; she also had a bright red apple and a sunny delight. Rachel smiled to herself and made a note to hug her mother at some point later that day, physical affection wasn't common for Rachel and it always made Shelby extremely happy when she hugged her, or even just leaned against her. Rachel didn't understand it, but it made her mother happy so she would do it anyway.

Lunch was ten minutes away from ending when a group of students disrupted her peace and quiet. The group made their way to the stage quiet loudly and just stood in a lose circle, Rachel recognized Kurt and Santana immediately.

"Give it up fairy boy, everyone in the school felt the backlash of your little episode this morning and my sources say that you where with the new girl when it happened. Is this chick a mind fucker like you or what?" Santana was standing in between two blonde girls in the same uniform, though the arm or one of them was around her waist, the other Rachel recognized as the nice girl Quinn that had let her share her book.

"She's no telepath, but she's diffidently one of us." Kurt had paused for a second them before saying again. "Sorry Quinn, she's diffidently a mutant, but when I asked her what she could do she wouldn't say."

"But then how did she cause what happened this morning?" Rachel recognized the boy from her math class, who was standing next another boy who had a Mohawk

"She was blocking me somehow pretty much all though history this morning, then we had English together after so I offered to show her the way. Well actually I kind of just followed her at first, but then it was like she sensed me in her head, which she had probably felt all through class too then, and then she then she turned and looked at me and I felt this intense pain, which is what everyone else felt, almost knocked me over. But then she was there and just said that she had experience with telepaths and that if I ever tried to poke around in her head again she wouldn't be as gentle next time." Everyone was quiet then and Rachel felt slightly smug as she put her rolled up brown paper bag in her messenger bag. Then the second blonde that had been hugging Santana's head snapped up.

"You guys, she's up there." Then every other head snapped up to try and find her, Rachel just contemplated the drop and if her weight would make the floor brake beneath her or not. Then Rachel secured her bag across her body and pushed herself through the gap in the cables. The air wiped by her ears and she heard a few shrieks as she kneeled into the landing one hand bracing her bag and the other stretched out to a three point kneel before standing straight and crossing her arms under her chest; she had landed right in the middle of their circle. A few of her toes had broken in the landing, but Rachel stretched them back out as they healed inside her boots.

Rachel took in the group then. Rachel recognized Kurt, Santana, Quinn, and the boy from her math class, but there was also the mohawked boy who was grinning widely at her, a blonde boy who looked like he might have just wet himself, and the second blonde girl who had seemed to sense her. Rachel made eye contact with the second blonde girl and tilted her head slightly to one side.

"How did you know I was there?" the girl just looked confusedly back at her before shrugging.

"I could feel that you were smug that everyone was a little scared of you." The girl just looked at Rachel then before adding. "I can't feel you now though, how did you do that, people can't normally just turn off emotions." It clicked then for Rachel and she frowned slightly.

"You're an Empath then." The girl smiled then and bounced forward a few times on her toes.

"I'm Brittany."

"Sorry, but how did you just do that. You should have a broken ankle at least." The blonde boy asked a little too fast, casing Rachel to think for a second to decipher what he meant. Then she just shrugged.

"I just did." That was all she offered, but the boy looked like he may ask again, so Rachel just sighed slightly. "You are all mutants." Rachel had known by the way they talked about it, casually, like it happened all the time, there was also that they knew about Kurt. Rachel made eye contact with each of them before finally landing on Quinn's hazel eyes and frowning. "You aren't." It wasn't a question, but Quinn shook her head no, Rachel guessed the girl was close with the other cheerleaders and that was how she knew about mutants at all. Then she addressed the rest of the group. "What I am is my business, and none of any of yours, understand?"

"What if I just beat it out of you? Maybe you'll feel like talking if your black and blue." Rachel just shook her head as she looked at the floor.

"Wow, you are supper subtle with your feelings; I had to really focus to tell that you just wanted to laugh at San." Brittany was frowning when Rachel looked up at her, Rachel really hated Empaths, her feelings were the one thing no one could take away or manipulate, and Empaths, if powerful enough could make you feel anything they chose. "Wow, I got angry and frustrated from you then."

"Stop that." Rachel clenched her jaw then and focused on her mental blocks, the girl may not be a telepath, but as long as her mind was in lock down no one could get in and that's all that mattered.

"Don't talk to her that way." Santana snapped then and Rachel saw that her eyes were now those of a cat and her nails where slightly longer than they had been a second before.

"Shape shifter, makes sense." Rachel looked behind her then; the circle had slowly morphed so that the group was now all in front of her, leaving the back door open.

"I think you don't want to tell us what you can do because you have a crap power." Santana barked out a laugh as her nails shrunk back down and her eyes became more human again. "What do you do, glow in the dark or something?"

Rachel didn't know why that made her suddenly so angry, but then she stopped slowly moving backwards and saw that Brittany had grabbed onto Santana's arm just as her eyes flashed to the brunette girl. Rachel reached into her jacket then and pulled the knife from the hidden pocket, the whole group jumped back then, but Rachel just held up her hand and pulled the blade across her palm before holding it out for the group to watch as the skin nit itself back together. Then Rachel used her thumb to wipe the blood from the blade and stuck her thumb in her mouth as she stowed the blade again. The group looked on in stunned silence.

"I knew it, that's so lame." Santana's voice shook slightly as she took another hesitant step back and pulled Brittany with her. "What hell can you do with that?"

"I can be fearless." Then Rachel turned and walked away from them.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: For those of you who have read anything else by me in this fandom, you know I am a fan of the Puckleberry and you will not be escaping it here, and there is a lot of that in this chapter, I'm just trying to build them together. I did name drop the Berry Daddies, but only one will be actual dad and the other will be something else entirely, I plan on getting to that more in the next couple chapters. So, I hope you enjoy and please let me know what you think, I would love to hear what you guys have to say. Have a good one.**

* * *

_From the start something wasn't right_

_I used to cry myself to sleep at night_

_Told myself stand up, be strong_

_This kind of phase doesn't last for long_

_And every time you try to knock me down_

_Gonna pick my back up off the ground_

_The battle never ends_

* * *

_Age 5_

R sat on her bunk, the wool blankets were scratchy on her bare legs, but she had to stick to the routine that the people in the white coats established for her, or there would be consequences. R wished she could have clothes like everyone else had though; the white gown she wore was flimsy and left her cold most of the time. But it was all she had, and if she had her blanket around her shoulders when the white coats came then they would make her stay in training for extra time. R looked around her quarters then, the cold white tile floors matched the white tile of three of the walls and the ceiling, the wall on the right of her bunk was one big mirror, she wasn't sure why. Other than her bunk, which was welded to the floor and the wall, there was nothing; R wished she could of at least had a table where she could do her school work when there was nothing else to do, at least when she was reading or doing her math problems she could escape to a place other than were she was.

The lock on her door clicked so loudly that it startled the small girl, but then the heavy door swung inward and someone the girl had never seen before strode in with two white coats following after him. The man was dressed in all black, his pants had creases on the front and his black shirt had buttons on the front, he wore a black piece of cloth around his neck like a lot of the white coats wore, looking like it might strangle him. The man's shoes were so shinny that the girl might have been able to see herself in then if she were to have enough nerve to get up from her bunk and look, but the most notable thing about him was his black coat, there where tiny lines going up and down it and there was also a white triangle of cloth sticking out of his pocket. The man's hair was pushed back on his head and looked a little wet, but wasn't moving around when he walked, and his face was clear of any facial hair that some of the male white coats had.

"So this is the clone of Hiram, does it have his healing ability?" The man's voice was deep with self importance, much like how a lot of the white coats talked, though the whites coats that had followed him where looking at him like he was to have anything he wanted.

"She's too young for her mutant gene to have activated yet, but all scans show that it's there Sir." The white coat was looking down at a chart what a large red R on the back; it had probably come from the shelf outside her door. R had seen two other such charts before when she was being lead down the hall to where she would either meet her tutor or one of her senseis.

"And Dr. Corcoran?" R's ears perked up slightly at this, but she did not move, they may have been talking about her, but they weren't talking to her. She knew if she were to say anything to this man there would be consequences.

"She continues to be a problem. She continually shows too much affection for the project, and even though she previously stated that she could handle carrying the clone to term without forming an attachment, she seems protective of it." The girl remembered how, just the night before, her mother had come to her room and read her a story; she hadn't even been wearing her white coat.

"Tell her that if she continues to impede the projects advancement that we will no longer have use of her services." The man in black looked R in the eyes then, and a sinister smile made its way on his face. "I wonder how protective she would be if we ordered this one to make her the first of many kills to come." The man looked back to the white coats then. "Hiram was the best mutant mercenary in the world; it was a shame we had to put him down. But we lacked control, and he stepped out of line; that's what we need to establish with this one gentlemen, make sure we have control of it, or you might as well be putting my money in the fire."

"Yes Sir." The two white coats said simultaneously, as if giving this man what he wanted was a compulsion.

"And see what you can do to activate the healing ability, then you can really step it up with its physical training. Nothing says incentive to learn more than the threat of having one of your legs removed."

* * *

_Present Age 17_

Rachel had found her way out to the bleachers and was sitting at the very top, smack dab in the center, this was probably the most strategically unsafe of any choice she could have made, but she was angry with herself, and if anyone wanted to attack her right now then all she had to say to them was bring it on. Rachel looked down at her hand where she had sliced it open. It hadn't been a deep cut, but sometimes shallow cuts hurt more than deeper ones. She just flexed her hand a few times before her head snapped up at the sound of footsteps on the metal of the bleachers.

It was the mohawked boy from the auditorium, possibly the only one of that group who hadn't jumped back when she had pulled out her knife, if anything he had just looked like he was determined to stand his ground. He made his way up to her and sat down next to her, not to close though. She felt what was different about him immediately.

"Pyrokinetic." The word slipped out of her mouth easily and she was sure she was right, but the boy just looked stumped. "Big word of fire starter, someone who controls fire, someone like you."

"How'd you know?" The boy looked intrigued now, like he had been given a candy but wasn't sure what flavor it was.

"Your temperature is four degrees hotter than is considered average yet you are not sick."

"You can tell that just from sitting next to me?" Rachel just nodded and a smirk appeared on his face. "Noah Puckerman, you can call me Puck." The boy then stuck his hand out for her to shake so she did. Her initial assessment had been wrong, he was four and a half degrees hotter. "So what you did back there in the auditorium was pretty badass." Rachel wasn't sure how to respond to that, so she just looked at him and stayed silent. "Though, you do know that bringing knives to school isn't allowed right?"

"So is bringing guns, but I've got one of those too." Rachel wasn't sure why she had offered that information up, there was just something about this boy that made her feel safer than normal, not safe per say, but safer. Noah grinned then, apparently not put off by the information.

"Can I see it?"

"No, I think you already have enough fire power." One corner of Rachel's lips quirked up at that, but Noah just gave one loud laugh next to her. "So can you make fire or do you have to carry a lighter with you everywhere?"

"Some people have to do that?" He seemed bewildered at the thought, so Rachel guessed he was the former and nodded.

"I knew a pyrokinetic once who had to wear flint laced gloves everywhere and he would snap to create the spark and then use that to create the fire. Not everyone can just make it out of nothing." The boy just nodded then as he took in the new information, most likely wondering how she knew so much. She would not tell him how she had killed the man mire minutes after he had nearly burned all her skin off.

"That's kind of cool actually."

"Not if they get wet." The two made eye contact then, and Rachel looked for any type of ill will in his eyes, she could usually spot it from a mile away, but she saw none from this boy. He seemed to just genuinely want to talk to her.

"Did it hurt?" Puck asked after a long minute of silence. Rachel just looked at him, not sure what he meant. "When you cut your hand, I mean, and also I guess when you jumped from the cat walk."

"Yes." It was the simple answer to a complicated question, one that was rarely asked of her. No one seemed to care if it hurt, as long as she could heal from it.

"Then why do it, when you could have just said something?"

"Because I've never been very good at explaining myself to people who might not like what I have to say." With that Rachel stood and decided that now was as good a time as any to head to the library and get her text books. The halls would be mostly clear as class had just started, then she could go back to the auditorium and see if she could find some kind of peace again before her last class.

* * *

Rachel was making her way through the newly crowded hallway when there was suddenly a large boy stepping in her path. Looking up at him, Rachel noticed there were actually two large boys, and they were both holding large cups filled to the brim with slushy. It got quiet in the hallway very quickly then, and the students that had been previously trying to get to class had all stopped and where watching what was happing, even though there was seemingly nothing to see. Rachel saw Quinn, Santana, and Brittany standing nearby, and curiously Santana had a grin etched on her face.

"So at this school we have a little tradition." The first boy, whose jacket read Karofsky, said with a smug grin on his round face.

"It's a sort of welcome." The second boy, who was darker skinned and whose jacket read Adams. Then the two of them where thrusting the drink cups at her; Rachel reacted before her mind had time to process what was happening.

Rachel's arms shot out and her left palmed the side of the darker boys arm, causing the purple slush to hit the locker behind her, and used her right hand to knock the cup from the other boys hand, causing the liquid to ark sideways and manage to hit both of the large boys across the face. The hall was silent as they gapped at her, then Rachel saw her hands and her breathing all but stopped; they were covered in red.

_ R was standing in a conference room where not three minutes ago there had been fifteen men and women discussing the future of their company, now there were only corpses and blood, R was covered in it, this had been one of her first post operation missions and she was still trying to get used to the way the new additions to her body killed, everything was messier now. R looked down at her shaking hands, covered in red, she wondered if her hands would ever be clean again._

Something in her chest was constricted so hard Rachel had to clench her jaw and swallow to keep the pain from showing on her face. Someone was shaking her then, Rachel's dead eyes shifted from her shaking hands to see Noah Puckerman looking down at her, with a hand on either shoulder. Rachel reacted. The girl used an opened palm strike to his sternum, grabbed his right arm and spun, causing then the switch places with the boy slamming hard into the locker face first with his arm getting ready to slide out of its socket if any sudden movements were made. Rachel blinked them as time returned to normal. She released the boy and walked away silently, the students parting for her.

Rachel found the nearest bathroom, and dumped her bag on the ground before pulling off her jacket and turning on the water in the sink to the hottest it would go, then soaping her hands and scrubbing. The door opened after a few minutes and Rachel's eyes darted to meet the soft hazel eyes of Quinn Fabray, Rachel felt something in her stomach tighten as she held the blonde girls eyes, then just looked back at her hands and kept scrubbing, the skin on her hands had long since turned red and was starting to burn, but Rachel kept at it.

Quinn just watched her for a minute as Rachel scrubbed at her hands, then walked over to the other girl and felt the temperature of the water, pulling her hand back fast then turning off the stream and seeing how the Rachel's hands where bright red and shaking.

"I'm pretty sure your hands are clean now." Quinn's voice was soft, causing Rachel to look the other girl in the eyes, her face blank and emotionless.

"My hands will never be clean." Rachel went over to the paper towel dispenser then and dried her hands without looking at them, already healed, then moved to pick up her jacket. Quinn watched the girls movements, how glassy her eyes where and how tense Quinn could see her shoulders where before the other girl pulled on her leather jacket.

"Do you want to tell me what all that was about?" Rachel met Quinn's eyes again, and Quinn could see something in her eyes, something old and haunting, but when the bell rang and Rachel hadn't said anything, the two of them just left the bathroom and moved in the same direction to the last class of the day. When the both of them turned to go into the Spanish room Quinn smiled lightly and moved to let Rachel go in first.

Rachel observed the room for a second before moving her predetermined desk, Noah Puckerman sat in the adjoining seat but when Rachel sat down next to him and they just looked at each othe,r Puck just nodded, and Rachel knew he hadn't taken the attack personally. Quinn was seated in front of the two of them with Brittany beside her and Santana in the seat across from her. Quinn had put a hand on the other blonde girls back and was rubbing in small circles, but when Brittany smiled, all the tension that had built up on Quinn's face slid off. Then Brittany turned around and looked at Rachel with the same concern that Quinn had just been showing for her, it made Rachel's insides warm.

"You don't feel like other people do." Brittany's brow was furrowed, her head was tilted slightly to one side, and Rachel noticed that she was paler than she had been when Rachel had seen her in the hall not ten minutes before, Rachel kept eye contact with the tall blonde, but saw that she also had the attention of Quinn, Santana, and Puck. "It's like you try to not feel anything most of the time, but then when you least expect it they just explode and you don't know what to do with them." The girl's eyes softened when Rachel clenched her jaw. "And you don't like that I'm thinking about you like a project, trying to figure you out." Brittany paused for a second then and sighed before continuing. "It's okay to feel things Rachel."

Rachel remained silent, where she had grown up it wasn't, this was one of the reasons Rachel felt like she shouldn't go to school, the students who went here had such normal lives, even the ones who where mutants had something in them that Rachel just seemed to be missing. And the worst part was that Rachel didn't even know what that was. The teacher walked in then, a younger man, in about the same age group as her mother, with curly hair, and a sweater vest. He apologized for his tardiness then jumped right into the lesson with a wide smile. Puck just kept looking at her though, and it was halfway through the lesson that the boy looked away and wrote something down on a piece of paper and slid it across the desk to her.

_It cool about earlier, but it seemed like you didn't even mean to do it._ Rachel was unsure about how to respond so she just licked her lips and looked the boy in the eye as she fisted her hands once, then twice. Puck got the message and pulled the paper back to him before writing on it again, then sliding it back to her. _Look, I know you don't know me, but you seem like you need somebody, somebody who might understand what you're going through. You can talk to me if you want._

_ No one could ever understand what I'm going through._ Rachel noted the sharp contrast between her neat concise handwriting and Noah's messy almost illegible scrawl, as she watched Puck read the note, she wasn't sure what had made her write that, but there was something about this boy that made her feel like she wasn't standing on the top of a mountain, with only lethal drops surrounding her and if she moved even an inch in any direction she would fall to her death, instead she felt like maybe she was standing on top of a skyscraper and he was trying to pull her towards the stair well. Puck looked over to her and frowned, but Rachel decided that this boy was defiantly a spy. He was showing much too much interest in her, and that had to be bad, so she ignored him for the rest of the class.

Once the bell rang, Rachel took her time to gather her things, the halls would be the most crowded now, and the last thing that Rachel wanted was for someone to follow her home. Puck and Brittany both gave her lingering looks as they left her in the Spanish room, but it was Quinn who stayed behind and turned her chair around and looked Rachel straight in the eyes as the rest of the students filled out into the hall.

"What did you mean earlier, when you said your hands would never be clean?" Rachel's eyes darted down to her hands for a second and she rubbed her knuckles hard before she looked back up at the blonde girl. Quinn stared at Rachel's hands too, with a frown; Rachel could see more questions forming in the girl's mind, questions that Rachel could never answer. Rachel made an effort to stop rubbing her knuckles and clenched her jaw when Quinn's eyes met hers again. "Look, I know I'm not a mutant like you, but Brittany is never wrong about these things and what she said about you before class is scary. Did you know that after you slushied Adams and Karofsky that she got a read off you, that Santana and I had to practically carry her to the nurse, that she was crying so hard she threw up. I only went looking for you because I figured I would find you in the same state, then when I do, you look like nothing's wrong, and your practically melting the skin off your hands trying to get them clean."

"It healed in seconds." Was all Rachel could say, she hadn't meant to let her control slip, and she defiantly hadn't meant to hurt the Empath, as much as Rachel hated them as a whole, Brittany seemed like a sweet girl, and Rachel never wanted to hurt anyone ever again. But Quinn just rose an eyebrow at her.

"That's not the point. Did you even feel it, or does your power make you not feel the damage too?"

"Of course I feel it." Rachel felt pain possibly more acutely than anyone else around her, as the energy it takes to heal is the same as if it were to heal at a normal rate, it hurts just as much as the initial injury to have it heal so quickly as Rachel healed. But only the White coats knew that, them and Leroy.

"So you where hurting yourself on purpose." Rachel said nothing, but became aware that she was rubbing her knuckles again and stopped herself immediately she swallowed and stood up, pulling the strap of her messenger bag over her head and letting it rest against her hip, then shoving her hands into her jacket pockets in tight fists. Quinn stood up too and Rachel watched Quinn follow her hands and heard the girls deep breath when her hands staid in her pockets.

"You are scared of me." The tightness returned to Rachel's stomach as Quinn met her eyes again, and Rachel saw that the blonde looked slightly ashamed.

"Well you did pull out a knife in the auditorium." Quinn licked her lips and held her books in front of her as she shifted her weight from one foot to the next, Rachel's eyes darted to the girls lips at the movement, confused slightly by the way her heart hammered in her chest. "So what's stopping you from doing it again?"

"I have no reason to want to hurt you, and I am sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." Rachel voice was soft as she turned, but felt tightness in her chest at the girl's words, and started out of the room. The hallway was quiet, but Rachel could hear someone playing a piano somewhere down the hall. Quinn followed her out and reached to put a hand on the smaller girls shoulder, but held back as she remembered what had happened to Puck earlier.

"I'm sorry if that offended you." Rachel stopped walking then but didn't turn around; Rachel couldn't seem to wrap her mind around this girl, why was she acting so strange. Was she a spy too? Sent to find Rachel and her mother? It was possible, but Quinn didn't have the eyes of someone who was trained like Rachel was, her eyes where too soft and young to have ever taken a life.

"Why are you doing this, what's in this for you?" Rachel still hadn't turned around, but at Quinn's silence Rachel turned her head to look over her shoulder at the other girl. Quinn was just staring at her with a frown, so Rachel turned her body and pulled her leather jacket tighter around her body. "Why are you being so…?" But Rachel couldn't find the word she was looking for, didn't know how Quinn was acting, only that it confused her, and made her heart race.

"It's called being nice. What, no one's ever been nice to you before?" Rachel was silent then, and Quinn's eyes softened as her small smile turned to a frown. Rachel really needed to work on this, if people where going to be constantly asking her questions, she needed to act like she at least knew how to answer them. Or maybe she should just avoid people all together, yes, Rachel liked that plan. Rachel turned back around then and started walking away without another word; leaving Quinn to watch her walk away.

* * *

The route Rachel took home was ten minutes longer than it would have been if she didn't make sure to double back three different times and cut through a few people's back yards, but she just wanted to be sure that no one followed her home. It wasn't safe for people to know where she lived, and it was even worse it they associated her with Shelby. Rachel came in through that back door and found Shelby unpacking boxes in what would end up being her office. Shelby smiled when she saw her daughter walk in, but when she caught the look in the young girls eyes, the smile fell and she knew immediately that something was wrong.

"How was your first day?" The woman's voice was soft and she put the computer monitor that she had just been unboxing back down and moved toward the girl, but when she saw Rachel tense in anticipation for the touch she held back. "What happened?"

"There's a Telepath and an Empath at this school. They knew immediately that I was one of them and I had to reveal my power to a group of the mutants that go to that school." Rachel looked down at her hands then and saw the clean flesh flash red and she swallowed. "There also seems to be a bullying problem, two boys tried to throw a slushy on me." Rachel only even knew what a slushy was because Shelby had been more prone to giving her things that she had never been able to have back at the facility. A slushy fell under the junk food category that had been Shelby's first new foods kick. "I managed to avoid all of one, but I got some of the second on my hands, it was red." Shelby moved to her daughter then and pulled the girl into her arms. Rachel didn't move, she hardly breathed, but Shelby knew that she enjoyed the comfort of the embrace; she just still was sure how to react to it yet.

"Okay, it's alright that the mutants that go to your school know about you, it could do you good to talk to people your own age who are like you, you know my stance on that Rachel." Shelby's voice was soft and the woman pulled back and put a hand on either side of her daughters face and made sure Rachel was looking her in the eyes, she had to be sure that Rachel understood. "And as for the bullying, Rachel I understand if you have to defend yourself and that's fine, but do not provoke them. Just ignore them, and after a while they should leave you alone. Understand?"

"Yes ma'am." Rachel voice was soft too as she looked her mother in the eyes that where so like her own, Shelby smiled then and Rachel remembered her lunch suddenly. "Thank you for the sandwich today, I found a nice quiet place to eat and I really liked it." Rachel gaze shifted to the floor then, and she suddenly felt embarrassed, but then Shelby's hand was under her chin, making her look back up at the older woman who was smiling softly down at her again.

"You're welcome sweetheart." Shelby hugged her daughter again before pulling away and moving back to the boxes on her desk. "So, did you learn anything new today?"

"Apparently people who play sports are called jocks, and the boy jocks all wear these matching jackets in the schools colors." Shelby nodded and smiled softly as she went about setting up her computer. It always made the woman slightly sad at the little things that Rachel didn't know, but that's why she was so adamant about sending her to public school, it would be so good for her social skills to interact with other teenagers, and if Shelby had any hope of seeing Rachel have a normal life one day then the girl needed to have social skills. "And there are these girls called Cheerleaders who wear matching outfits and short skirts and cheer for the athletes at games, and Mckinley's are called Cheerios."

"Cheerios?" Shelby looked up at that with a quirked eyebrow.

"I know, it's kind of weird. But the Telepath boy, Kurt said that they are the most popular girls in the school. And the Empath girl, Brittany is one of them, along with a shape shifter girl named Santana, and their human friend Quinn Fabray who knows that they're mutants." Rachel paused then as she thought of Quinn. "Quinn was nice to me, she let me read out of book in a class we share and she noticed that I reacted to the red slushie and came after me to make sure I was okay." Shelby looked up at that and smiled at the faraway look on her daughters face, there was a ghost of a smile on her face, and it was the happiest expression that her daughter knew how to make, maybe this Quinn girl would be her daughters first friend. "There was also this pyrokinetic boy named Noah Puckerman who was nice to me, he has a Mohawk."

Shelby watched her daughter as she talked about this boy, her face was more neutral than when she had talked about Quinn Fabray, but her eyes still where lighter than normal, and Shelby smiled, maybe her daughter had made two friends. That was more than Shelby could have ever hoped for and the woman suddenly felt very proud of herself for choosing Lima Ohio as there settling down point.

"So I haven't touched the basement yet. I figured that you would want to set it up, you know more about security than I do anyway, and I know you'll only be happy if you do it yourself." The two of them had agreed that the basement would be both Rachel's training room and were all the security equipment would be held. It was out of the way, with a door at the top of the stairs so it could be closed off and invisible from the rest of the house, but big enough for all their needs. At first Rachel had wanted to use the attic as security and the basement as her room, but the attic was more visible from the outside, and Rachel hadn't wanted anyone who may be looking for an assassin to see her training equipment, it would be a dead giveaway. Rachel nodded to her mother and made her way out of the office and down the hall towards the door to the basement; Shelby called to her before she made it. "Dinner is at seven, and don't work yourself to hard down there, you still have to do your homework."

The cameras where the first thing on Rachel's list, then the motion sensors, so after Rachel dropped her bag and jacket at the base of stairs she moved over to the boxes and started unpacking the small devices. There were a dozen cameras total, and four motion detectors. It took two hours for Rachel to finish mounting and setting all the cameras and checking their range of motion and view, and another half hour before all the motion detectors were set and calibrated to go off only when a human passed through the beams. Then Rachel got to work one setting the main security station up in the basement, there were three monitors, two of which were dedicated to seeing through the cameras at all times, and the last held all the main data and list of passes with weights of whatever passed through the motion detectors, it also held Rachel's and Shelby's schedule for the next week so the two would always know where the other was.

After that was finished Rachel started on the security panel for access to the basement, it was a thumb print scanner with standard six digit unlocking code on the number pad, Rachel had wanted to put one on the front and back doors also, but Shelby had reasoned that that would cause more bad attention than good and Rachel had conceded to her mother. The device was set in the door which was only made of wood, but Rachel didn't have time to reinforce it today so that would have to wait, after setting the unlock code she set the alarm code, if someone entered the alarm code then the police would get a generic call and told to come to their address, it was more for Shelby than Rachel, but again her mother had insisted. Rachel put the two codes into the main security computer so her mother would have a chance to memorize them.

Rachel was setting up the weapons closet when she heard the soft ping from the computer meaning something had just gone through the beam on the motions detectors. Rachel rushed to look at the monitors and saw a three people coming up the walk. One of which had a Mohawk; so much for no one knowing where she lived.

"We have company." Rachel called up to her mother as she walked up the stairs and locked the door behind her just as the door bell rang. Rachel met her mother at the entrance hall, and Shelby was wiping her hands on a towel and through it over her shoulder while making eye contact with her daughter. "The boy is Noah Puckerman, but I don't know the rest." Shelby sighed then, and a smile came to her face.

"They're probably our neighbors Rachel." Shelby put a hand on her daughters shoulder and squeezed before opening the door. "Hello."

"Hello! My name is Maria Puckerman, this is my Son Noah and my Daughter Hannah, we live across the street and thought we would drop in and welcome you to the neighborhood." The woman was average height and weight with strong looking hands that were holding what looked like a casserole dish, Rachel saw Noah in the woman immediately, and the boy's younger sister had even more of their mother than he did, they made a lovely looking family, but Rachel wondered briefly about where the father might be. Maria Puckerman locked eyes with Rachel then, and the warmth that Rachel had felt radiating off her son was doubled in his mother. "I hope it's alright, I made a casserole to welcome you to Lima."

"Of course, please do come in, my name is Shelby Berry." Shelby hadn't even hesitated with the last name, as she ushered the family into the house, Noah looking up at the visible camera above the door before walking inside and smiling at Rachel. "This is my daughter Rachel; it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Oh the pleasures all mine, what a beautiful girl you are Rachel, Noah don't you think she's beautiful." Shelby tried to hold back her grin as she looked at her daughter who just seemed uncomfortable.

"Course she is, but you're embarrassing her Ma." Noah looked between the quiet girl he had met at school that day and the woman who was her mother and thought to himself, _Damn, these are some good looking people._

"Oh, I'm sorry dear but when Noah mentioned you when he got home from school today, he failed to tell me how absolutely gorgeous you were." Rachel's face was growing hot, but when she looked up at Noah she saw that he was blushing also, at least they were embarrassed together.

"Rachel why don't you take Noah to the living room to talk while Maria, Hannah, and I finish up dinner, it will only be a little while." Rachel nodded and motioned for Puck to follow her as they broke off from the rest of the group who headed towards the kitchen.

"So, I should have guessed that the new girl was also my new neighbor, not many people move to Lima." Noah looked around the sparsely furnished living room, the TV wasn't even set up yet.

"I guess, uh sorry about the mess, we haven't had much time to unpack yet." Which was only mostly true, the bedrooms where done and the basement and Shelby's office were mostly done, the living room just wasn't as important so it would only be gotten to once the bigger things where finished.

"Hey it's cool, you guys ever need help moving the heavy stuff, you can just yell across the street for me." Noah was smiling at her, but Rachel wasn't quite sure why so when he broke eye contact to look at some of the pictures on the walls that Shelby had put up, Rachel could breathe easy again. Then Noah was looking back down at Rachel with a slightly confused look in his eyes. "These are all really resent pictures of you are your mom."

"Yeah." Rachel hated that Shelby was always taking their picture, she reasoned that it left a paper trail that could lead the Facility right to them, but Shelby was adamant that she needed some documentation of Rachel's growth. The older woman had nothing she could show off before they had escaped two years earlier and Shelby just wanted to be able to prove how much Rachel had changed in such a short time. And like always, Rachel let her mother have her way.

"What about your dad?" It had taken a minute for the boy to realize that Rachel wasn't going to say anything else or offer anything up, and as much as he hated the question because of his own family, it didn't necessarily mean it was the same for other families.

"Don't have one." Rachel had only ever seen videos of her original, and mercenary, with the same skill set and genes as she had, named Hiram. She had never learned his last name, and the videos where only shown to her for her to learn how the man had killed, and to learn from his example. Leroy had always told her that a good clone needed to kill on mark with her original, or what was the point of having her at all. Rachel looked up at Noah then, and the boy saw only the neutral expression that he learned was always there, the girl decided it was time for a subject change. "Does your mother know you are a mutant?"

"Uh." Noah stuttered for a little bit and looked over his shoulder to where his mother and sister where before looking back down at the small girl. "Why?"

"Because I told my mother, we don't keep things from each other." That was only mostly true, Rachel kept a few select things from her mother, but she had reasoned that all normal teenagers did that and really, all Shelby wanted was for Rachel to be a normal teenager.

"Oh, uh, yeah my Mom knows, so does my sister. She's cool with it, I told her about you too." Rachel didn't like that he had told his mother, but then he probably felt the same way about her telling her mother, so she guessed it didn't matter to much. "So I saw the camera above the door, what's up with that?"

"Just a little security, it is just me and my mom hear." Rachel down played how much more security there was and how well the two of them would be able to handle an attack if that where to happen, but the other boy didn't need to know anything more than he already did. Rachel admitted to herself that Shelby had been right about the thumb print scanner for the front door.

"I guess that makes sense, but this is Lima Ohio, and you do seem to have some moves." Puck looked at her pointedly then and Rachel conceded.

"I am sorry about that, my head was in another place, and when I feel threatened I just react. I didn't hurt you did I?" Rachel had kept her head down with her hands at her sides, fisting and unfisting them over and over again.

"You didn't hurt me, it's cool Rae." Rachel looked up at him at that and tilted her head to the side; no one had ever called her Rae before. Puck was frowning down at her, and Rachel could see the questions forming in the boys mind, thankfully her mother chose that moment to interrupt them.

"Kids, dinners ready." Shelby called down the hall to the living room, Rachel motioned for Noah to follow her again and the two ended up sitting across from each other at the table.

"So I noticed you walked to and from school today, do you want a lift tomorrow?" Noah asked after the meal was over and he had wiped his mouth with his napkin. Rachel looked to her mother then and Shelby only smiled and gave the girl a slight nod.

"That would be great, thank you." Noah smiled then, and Maria practically blinded all of them with her white teeth, she seemed to like the idea of Rachel hanging around her son more than Noah did.

"Great, I'll see you in the morning then." After the Puckerman's left Shelby started giggling, and Rachel looked at her mother as if she had gone crazy.

"What?"

"Maria seems to think that the two of you should elope." Rachel frowned then as her mother kept giggling as she went about doing the dishes. Rachel just left the room and made her way down to the basement to set up her training equipment, now seemed like a good time to punch things.

* * *

_R had just been dropped at the entry point, she would have no back up from this point on until the twenty two minute count down on the watch she was given was up, and if she missed the extraction van then she was on her own. R scaled the wall easily and was past the perimeter of the property as easy as that. It was just past midnight and the guards where changing shifts; she had forty seconds before the new guard made his way past this point. The small girl slipped in the blind spots of the security cameras and was at a window in thirteen seconds, R used the window ledge to start her climb of the side of the house. It was old, made of stone and the hand grips were small, but R could climb anything, her mother liked to tell her she was part squirrel. _

_R almost slipped at the thought of her mother, waiting for her back at the facility, with the rest of the white coats, R was on the roof with five seconds to spare before there was any chance of a guard seeing her. Moving to the northeast corner of the house R got down on her stomach and dangled her top half over the edge, the window to the attic was open, just like her intelligence had said, the small girl opened the round window the rest of the way, then adjusted he self so she could swing herself in feet first. _

_The room was dark except for the moonlight coming in through the window, but R moved like a cat and made her way towards the stairs that would lead her down to the level where the family slept. The door opened silently, and R shut it behind her as she checked her time, nineteen minutes. R moved silently down a hall that she knew to be empty, at the corner there was the sound of footsteps. R lowered herself down and pulled a knife from the back of her belt, not wanting to make any noise._

_The guard came around the corner and R lept at him forcing the knife in his throat and pulling him down to her level, she had severed his vocal chords so there was no scream, but the choking sound the man was making made R anxious, so she pulled the knife from his throat to hasten the blood lose and in seconds the man was gone. R left the body where it was, mostly because it was too heavy for her small body to move, but more that, the master bedroom was just ten steps down the hall, and she needed to be quick._

_R didn't sheath her weapon as she moved towards the door to where the first two of her five targets slept, the father was first, so R plunged her knife into his chest fast then pulled it out and immediately did the same to the mother. The pair weren't even dead before R was out of the room again and heading for the eldest of the children's rooms. The oldest daughter took the knife as well as her sister who shared the adjoining bathroom. Then R made her way to the sons room, R stopped in her tracks, the boy wasn't supposed to be awake. He looked at her for a second with confused eyes, then he started to scream, he was the same age as R was. R heard commotion throughout the house as the guards rushed up the stairs, the time for being quiet was over, so R pulled the gun from her left thigh and shot the boy between the eyes._

Rachel shot up from her bed and had the gun from under her pillow in her hands before her eyes focused, she was breathing hard and the sound of gun fire rang in her ears, but as she looked around and saw nothing she slowly lowered the gun back down and pulled her knees up to her chest. Rachel took deep calming breaths before looking at the clock on her night stand, it was a little after two in the morning but she knew she wouldn't be falling back asleep tonight. Rachel got out of bed and put the gun still in her hand in the back of her sleep shorts, then climbed up to the rafters of her room and opened the round window to let the air in. Her mind flashed back to the round window of the house in her dream, her first solo mission. The black coats had been so pleased with her that she hadn't even been beaten for taking out more than just the family.

The girl climbed out the window and pulled herself up onto the roof, the stars were so clear tonight. Rachel loved looking at the stars, she hadn't been allowed to see them until that first solo mission, and even then she hadn't had time to really look at them. Rachel lay on the roof looking at the stars for an hour before she decided she could spend her time better by going around the property and checking the security, then after that she would train. Rachel didn't know when it was going to happen, but she knew with absolute certainty that the facility was hunting for her, that they would find her, and that she had to be ready when they did.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Okay, so I realize that I'm inconsistent with my posts and I haven't even tried to keep that a secret so I'm just going to move on. So there is a lack of Quinn so far and I'm sorry for that she'll be around a lot in the next chapter, but mostly what you need to understand about this Rachel is that the only love she's ever known is from her mother, and even that is relatively new to her; so there is no logical way that she would just jump into a relationship of any kind with anyone. This is going to be a slow moving story in that respect and even when Rachel does start to date I expect that she will start with boys because that's what she sees as normal. So don't get your panties in a twist. And if you don't know, Mutie is a slang against Mutants, I think that's clear but I'm just making sure nobodies left out. I would also love it if you would tell me what you think this, it would mean a lot. Until next time.**

* * *

_Age 10_

R was closing in on hour 160 of her 720 hour survival mission, and she was freezing. The white coats hadn't wanted to send her out, but the black coats insisted that she would at some point need to be able to look after herself, and this was the perfect way for her to learn. R knew she was being monitored, the forest they had dumped her in surrounded the facility for two hundred miles all around and they hadn't exactly hidden the cameras. All they had given her for her mission was a watch that counted how long she had been alone, a pistol with six shots, and her winter standard leather uniform. Then they had shoved her out the front door and told her not to die.

R was hiding in a tree, waiting for the deer that she had been tracking to move beneath her, trying not to think about how the cold was seeping through the gashes in her uniform where a mountain lion had managed to get her in the side. The small girl had pushed her hood down while on the hunt, and her ears perked at the small crunching sound that the deer's hooves made in the snow as the buck moved closer to her. R was itching to move, to get her blood flowing again so she could warm up, but the mountain lion she had taken down a few days earlier was running low and starting to go bad, she needed this deer. R's shoulders tensed as the deer moved into her range, then she struck.

The jump from the tree to the deer was a short one, but quick enough for R to unsheathe her claws with a faint 'snikt' sound, causing the deer to look up at her just as the metal plunged into its side. The deer struggled for a second, but R had struck its heart and when the small girl pulled her claws from the beast it made a loud whining noise before it collapses to the ground. R set to work then, she opened up the deer and set to work cutting out steaks that she then placed into the make shift bag that had once been her long sleeve undershirt. R made quick work of the beast and once she was finished she used the fresh snow on the ground to rinse the blood from her hands.

R took a second then to stare at the long metal claws protruding from her knuckles, she remembered every minute of the surgery, how the doctors had left her awake as they forced the then bone claws from her arm by pushing on a pressure point in her wrist she hadn't known existed, then crushed her wrist to keep then in place. She remembered how they had then sharpened the bone while she tried not to scream, then had removed them and coated them in the indestructible metal Adimantium before forcing them back into her hand, and moving on to the next. R remembered that her feet claws had been the worst.

The duel blades coming out between her first and second and third and forth knuckle where all she dared use out in the wilderness as if she used the single claw that rested in both her feet then the hole that it made in her shoe would be unrepairable, and only cause her more harm than good in the freezing weather. The blades where the length of her forearm but the width of her hand, R constricted the special muscle in her arm and the blades retracted with a small 'snakt' noise and R watched as the wounds on her hands healed instantly over them, as if they had never been there to begin with.

R wiped the blood from her hands and put her gloves back on as she started her trek back to the cave she had made her base of operations for the duration of her mission. It was getting dark by the time she made it back, and the girl was quick to restart the fire that had gone out while she had been hunting, all she had to do was rub the sharp side of one claw with the dull side of another and make sure the resulting sparks landed in the pile off dry kindling, then feed the fire until it could sustain itself.

The second day of her mission, after spending one sleepless night in a tree and hoping that the white coats had only been punishing her, R decided that she had needed a better place to go to sleep at night, and had stumbled upon the cave she was now staying in. It wasn't very big, only about ten feet back and fifteen across, but it had a small hole in the top that let a bit of light in and the smoke from the fire out and the opening was only big enough for R to climb through if she got down on her hands and knees. It had been hard for the small girl to bring in supplies, such as fire wood and branches for her bedding, and there was no way for her to get a whole animal carcass in there with her, but otherwise it was perfect and R could spend her days in peace for the first time in her life.

* * *

_Present Age 17_

It was a little before six in the morning when Shelby woke up and made her way up to the attic to check on her daughter. When the woman found that she wasn't in her bed she heaved a large sigh and made her way down to the basement. Shelby found Rachel at the computer, seemingly running background checks on her classmates. At the sound of Shelby coming down the stairs Rachel looked up at her.

"How long have you been down here?" This hadn't been the first time that Shelby woke up early in the morning only to find her daughter out of bed; it was one of the habits that the facility had drilled into her. That and that with Rachel's regeneration ability the girl required less sleep than the average person, but even she seemed to be pushing it.

"Since about 3." Rachel turned to look back at the information she had pulled up about Santana Lopez, but then her mother reached in front of her and flipped off the monitor. Rachel had no choice but to turn and met her mother's eyes then, she noticed how tired the older woman looked, and not for lack of sleep.

"Rachel, you have to sleep more, you didn't even get into bed until 11 last night, four hours may be all right for you every now and then, but you and I both know that you're pushing your limit." Rachel shifted her eyes away then, she hadn't meant to make her mother angry with her, but after a nightmare it was impossible for Rachel to relax again until she worked off her anxious energy. Shelby put a hand on her daughters chin, forcing the girl to look back up at her. "I know you've been having nightmares honey, you know it's alright to come and find me if you need me."

"All I needed was a work out." Shelby nodded then and took her hands off the younger girl. Shelby looked around the room then and rose an eyebrow at the state of the punching bag she had just bought not even a week before, it still hung from the ceiling, but so much sand had poured out of it from the many gashes that it was hard to tell what it had been before.

"You went easy on bag I see." Shelby looked down at her daughter again and saw she had turned slightly red and had sat on her hands. "I'll call and order another, just try and make the next one last okay." The small girl nodded but kept her head down. "I'm not mad at you honey, this is a good way to get your anger out, you're not hurting anyone this way. Though you shouldn't run background on you class mates." Rachel's head snapped up at that, and Shelby saw that the girl wanted to argue but held her tongue. "Not that I don't understand the need to; it's just that normally you would just ask a person about their past."

"People lie." Rachel's voice was flat and dead as she spoke, and Shelby frowned slightly.

"Sometimes they do, but they also may surprise you. How about I make some Waffles while you take a shower, we can sit down and eat together." Rachel's eyes darted back to her mother's then and Shelby gave the girl a small smile.

"I like Waffles."

"I know you do, so you get a move on. They'll be done when you're ready." Shelby watched then as her daughter stood and made her way up the stairs and back into the main portion of the house and sighed to herself again. It was slow going, but Shelby saw the changes in the girl from just two years ago when she wouldn't have even acknowledged that she liked something from fear of having it taken away. Shelby made her way to the kitchen then and heard the shower running, she hoped one day her daughter may confined in her what she dreamt about, not that she didn't already have a very good idea about what it was, just knowing that Rachel was comfortable talking about her feelings would be a huge step towards undoing what had been done to her, what she had helped do.

When Rachel was finished in the shower she took her time getting ready, her clothes had always been chosen for her before the escape, her uniform would be laid out for her every morning at 0500 every morning and she was expected to be dressed and ready to be lead to her morning classes and meal by 0510. Now she took her time with every choice, this morning Rachel chose to wear a dark purple long sleeved crew neck tee shirt with her heavy dark wash jeans, Rachel took her time with lacing up her combat boots and put her knife in her right boot, even though she knew Shelby would take it from her, and pulled on her soft black leather jacket after securing her heavy military grade watch to her wrist. Rachel made sure she still had all her necessary supplies in her messenger bag, and looked down at her hands; they were shaking. Rachel made a fist with her right hand and clenched the special muscle in her forearm, causing her metal coated claws to slide out from between her knuckles and glint in the soft light.

The door bell ringing down stairs brought Rachel from her trance, and her claws slid back into her hand with a soft 'snact' and Rachel was rushing down to the main floor of the house before she could think that if this was an attack that they wouldn't have rung the door bell. Shelby was pulling the door open as Rachel came into sight.

"Good morning Mrs. Berry." Rachel let go of the breath she hadn't realized she was holding, it was only Noah Puckerman come to make good on his promise to give her a ride to school.

"Good Morning Noah, and please, call me Shelby. Would you like to come in, I'm making Waffles." Shelby was smiling softly at the boy who had befriended her daughter, he was a little rough around the edges, and a pyrokinetice, but Shelby had seen the way he had been with his sister and mother the night before and knew he had potential to be a great ally. As the boy's eye lit up at the mention of food and she let him in, Shelby could see Rachel down hall, she had her eyes closed and her hands balled tight into fists. "Come have something to eat sweetheart."

Rachel's eyes snapped open then, and she let out one last shaky breath, Shelby didn't need to ask what was wrong, she knew that Rachel had assumed the worst immediately and had rushed to be beside her, only to find no threat to fight. Rachel followed after the pair and sat down next to Noah at the counter as her mother placed a pile of Waffles in front of her, then Noah. Shelby made polite conversation with the boy as he tried to shove as many waffles in his mouth at one time as he could, but Rachel was more content with observing them, mostly Rachel admired the way her mother was so poised and graceful, even while doing soothing as mundane as cleaning up around the kitchen. When it was time to go Shelby hugged her daughter tight before reaching into Rachel's jacket and pulling her knife from the secret pocket under her arm and raising an eyebrow at the girl. Rachel just shrugged and saluted her mother before turning and seeing Noah smiling at her as the two of them climbed into her truck.

"So busted." Noah had waited until they had pulled out of the driveway before he turned and smirked at her. "No knife tricks for you today."

"I have another, and don't forget about my gun." Rachel kept her eyes on the road, but saw Noah had a wide eyed looked on his face.

"I think the gun is just a bluff to make you seen more badass than you really are." Rachel did look at him then, and pulled her messenger bag onto her lap and reached her hand inside and pulled out her Glock 19 while holding the boys eyes, she pulled the magazine out in a smooth motion and then reloaded the weapon and cocked back the hammer. Noah pulled the truck over then and took his hands off the wheel with wide eyes with an emotion behind them that Rachel couldn't name.

"The safety's on, don't worry." Then Rachel pushed the hammer back into place, and placed the gun back into her bag, but the truck didn't start moving again.

"Okay, saying you have a gun is one thing, but actually having one, a loaded one and bringing it to a school is so far from okay. Why do you have that with you?" Noah had put his hands on the wheel again, and was taking deep breaths.

"I have one in case I need to use it." Noah's head snapped to the side then to look at her, his frown so deep it looked painful. "And don't be an idiot and think that you don't have just as much firepower as a gun right now."

"That's different and you know it."

"No I don't, it's no different. You start fires with your mind and can manipulate those fires to do whatever the hell you want. You could do more damage than one pistol ever could, it's all about who holds it. And the only reason I would ever fire off my weapon would be if I had no other choice." Rachel was frowning as she finished, she hadn't know where that had come from, she never talked that much, her mouth felt tired. Noah just nodded then and pulled his truck back into traffic, heading towards the school.

"Okay, I guess I was being a hypocrite. But you didn't answer my question." They pulled into the school parking lot then and Noah shut the engine off and turned in his seat to look at her. "Why do you need that?"

"Just in case, you don't need to know anything more than that, it would only get you and everyone you love hurt." Rachel could tell that the boy wanted to argue, could see the questions forming and trying to force their way out, but Noah held them in well and just nodded at her and they got out of the truck.

"So, I'm having some people over after school, we're going to play some COD and eat pizza. You want to come too?" Rachel just stared at him then, after everything that had just happened, after pulling a gun out her bag and telling him off, in her own Rachel way, he still wanted to hang around her. There was definitely something wrong with this boy.

"What's COD?" But even if there was, she wanted to find a way to at least know she had tried to make a friend.

* * *

Rachel had just left Noah to go to her locker, and while she didn't like the idea of leaving her books there and having to come back to it all the time, it would make a nice place to leave her lunch so it didn't get smushed in the bottom of her bag. She had only just left the boy when Rachel felt eyes on her, and not just one set, the girl looked around and saw that most all of the students were starring at her as she passed by. This made Rachel frown; no one had looked at her twice the day before, what had made her so special now? Rachel had just found her locker and had put her lunch and Spanish book inside when she heard someone clear their throat behind her. Rachel took a breath to steady herself and turned to see Quinn smiling at her, Rachel's stomach twisted just as it had the day before when she had seen the girl. Maybe Quinn was a mutant and just had a very specific and rare stomach twisting power? She would have to ask.

"So how do you like McKinley so far?" Quinn's hazel eyes were more green then they had been the day before and behind the blonde girl was her two cheerleader friends who seemed to be in their own little world, they seemed to be the only two people who weren't looking at her.

"It's different." Quinn's frown said that the blonde wanted to ask what it was different from, but Rachel closed her locker and put her hands in jacket pockets and she noticed Quinn's eyes track her hands as they had before. The thought that the girl was still thinking she was going to pull her knife on her made a lump form in her throat. Rachel's eyes drifted again to all the eyes on her. "Why is everyone looking at me?"

"Well you did slushy two of the most popular guys in the school and nearly ripped off Pucks arm." That made sense then, she had embarrassed the leaders and the population was waiting for her to do it again, she would have to be more careful if she didn't want to attract more attention. "What was up with that anyway? With Puck I mean."

"Instinct." Quinn was frowning again and Rachel began to think maybe she shouldn't have said that, maybe this was one of those times where the truth was something that most people don't want to hear, she needed to be more mindful of what she said to people, and to Quinn.

"Hey, you're the new girl." The new voice beside her made Rachel flinch slightly, but with all the eyes on her already it was hard to tell when there was another one. The boy who was talking to her was extremely tall, so tall that Rachel needed to crane her neck back to look all the way up to his face; she took a step back from him so her neck wouldn't cramp. Rachel's face remained impassive as the tall boy smiled down at her, mostly he looked like he needed to find the nearest bathroom. "I'm Finn Hudson; I was thinking I could show you around."

"She was here yesterday Finn; she knows where she's going." Quinn was scowling at the over grown boy.

"Right, you're the girl that slushied Karofsky and Adams and beat up Puck. I forgot." Rachel frowned slightly; obviously he had just wanted to find a way to talk to her. Rachel looked the boy up and down for a second, he was definitely tall, but not built, he looked a little overweight even, not by much but there was no way this boy was a spy sent to retrieve her. So why did he want to talk to her? "Anyway, I figured that since I'm the Quarterback you would want to talk to me, I just wanted to save you the trip of having to come and find me." The boy wore a smug looking smile, but Rachel's brow only dropped further.

"What's a Quarterback?" Finn's smile fell from his face and his mouth dropped open slightly and was silent, that was obviously not what he had wanted to hear. Rachel looked to Quinn then and the girl had her head tilted slightly to one side as she looked at the smaller girl.

"It's a position on the football team." Rachel only nodded her head at that, and made a mental note to ask her mother what was so special about this football sport. The bell sounded then and Rachel looked up at the tall boy who still wore a slightly confused look.

"I need to get to class." Rachel nodded her head in his direction before leaving him standing there, she had only taken four steps before Quinn was catching up to her and walking beside her to their shared class. Rachel breathed through the clench in her stomach when Quinn's shoulder brushed hers.

"So I know you don't know this because you just moved here, but Finn is an Ex-boyfriend of mine and it gave me a special kind of joy to see you reject him." Rachel looked up at the blonde girl beside her and furrowed her brow slightly, wondering what exactly she had rejected the boy of having but didn't want to ask, it seemed that Rachel had a lot to learn about teenagers if she wanted to find a way to fit in.

* * *

School had been boring for Rachel, she knew all the material and now it was just a matter of taking the tests and attending the classes, apparently there was a limit to how many classes you could miss and still pass the class. But now she was in Noah's truck again on her way home to drop off her school things and tell her mother where she was going to be for the afternoon. Once Noah pulled into his own drive way and turned off the engine he turned and looked at her.

"So a few of the guys from school are going to be coming over too, they should be on the way right now. You've met a few of them, but not all of us are mutants so please don't say anything about us." Rachel just nodded her head and the boy let out a breath as if relived, it's not like she just goes around announcing it to the world. "Cool, see you in a few. You can just come right in."

Rachel got out of the truck and crossed the street with her bag in hand. Once she opened the front door she went searching for her mother. After going upstairs and looking in her mother's room, and putting her bag in her room she made her way down to the basement and found her mother working on the main security computer.

"How was school Rachel?" Shelby hadn't turned around, but knew her daughter would find her eventually, and when the door to the basement had unlocked it now sounded a low alert tone.

"Rather uneventful, some boy told me he was the Quarterback and that I should want to talk to him, Quinn said he was her Ex-boyfriend and that I had rejected him. What does that mean? And all the kids where watching me because of the thing that happened yesterday." Rachel wasn't in a hurry to get over to Noah's and really this high school obsession with football baffled her. But when Shelby turned in her chair with an amused smile on her face Rachel just felt more confused than before.

"Okay first of all, a Boyfriend is a boy someone who is romantically involved with another person, and an Ex is someone who is no longer seeing that person romantically. Quinn and the Quarterback dated and broke up." Shelby looked at her daughter for any sign of understanding, but if anything Rachel was just more confused. She had never seen anyone romantically before and the whole concept was a mystery to her. "What I'm guessing happened was that this boy was flirting with you, and you not knowing that, rejected his romantic advances."

"Was that wrong?"

"Of course not Honey. You shouldn't do anything you don't understand or that you don't feel right about. And the fact that you had to ask me what had happened tells me that you aren't ready for that kind of thing, which is just fine, you'll know when you're ready to date someone." Shelby looked her daughter in the eye and only saw confusion, she figured this was a lot as Rachel had never had the chance to have any type of romantic life before and now she was in a high school with a bunch of hormonal teenagers, she should have seen this coming; all she could do now was just keep moving forward and help her daughter find some kind of normal life. "The quarterback is a position on the football team and usually the leader of the group, it's the person who calls all the shots. They get all the glory if the team wins and all the grief if they lose. And Football is one of the most popular sports for high schools, I don't really know why, but that's just the way it is. As for the kids looking at you all day, as long as you lay low they should leave you alone after a little while. You're just someone new and they're understandably curious."

"Oh, okay." Rachel was still confused and she had a lot to think about, but her mother had cleared up some of the things that needed clearing up; now it just understanding that Rachel had to work on. "So Noah invited me over to his house to play video games with a few of his friends. Is that okay?"

"Of course, I'm happy you're making friends and doing normal teenager things. Try and have fun, dinner will be at seven, just be home by then." Then Shelby pulled a new phone from the desk behind her and handed it over to her daughter with a small smile. "Call me if you're going to be late, I already put in my number." Rachel looked down at the device for a second before pocketing it and hugging her mother, she had seen how practically every other student at school had their phone basically glued to their hand, she had only ever used a cell phone on select missions and they were always taken away afterwards. This was hers.

"Thanks mom." Rachel pulled back and noticed how wet her mother's eyes looked, but didn't understand why, so she decided not to ask. Rachel took a step back and waved as she started up the stairs. "See you later."

Rachel made her way across the street again and hesitated at the door, Noah had said to just come right in and the fact that there were two new cars in the driveway told Rachel that the others that were going to be there probably already were, so Rachel just took a slow deep breath and walked into the house as if it where her own. She noticed the four boys immediately, and she did recognize them, Noah and the Asian mutant boy from her calculus class where sitting on the couch, while the quarterback sat on a lounge chair, and the blonde mutant boy with the big mouth lay on his stomach on the floor. They were all holding devices with buttons on them and pressing them in a way that Rachel was sure meant something, and it took a second for Rachel to be noticed, it was Noah and he waved her over to sit on the couch between him and the Asian boy.

"Hey Rach, took you long enough, for a minute there I thought you were going to stand us up." Noah pushed a few buttons before turning and giving her his full attention, and introducing Rachel to his friends. "So this is Mike Chang, guppy face down there is Sam Evans, and the lump over there is Finn Hudson. Guys this is Rachel, she's gonna play with us." Rachel made a note of all the boys names and faces and nodded to each of them as Noah pointed them out. Mike smiled at her kindly, but Sam's eyes were wide as he looked at her, probably thinking she was going to pull out her knife again, but it was Finn that broke the silence.

"Dude this is supposed to be guy time, why'd you invite a girl?" For as smug as the tall boy had looked that morning, he now looked irritated, and maybe like he needed to pass gas, maybe it was because of her apparent rejection of him.

"No it's Bro time and she's my Bro so knock it off and be cool Hudson." The boy rolled his eyes but said nothing. "So there are only four controllers, but seeing as you've never played before I figured you could just watch a few rounds before you take the losers place. Sound good?" Rachel nodded and frowned down at what she assumed was the 'controller' as Noah resumed the game. Rachel was so focused on how Noah was mashing the buttons that she hadn't looked up at the screen yet, but when she heard the gun fire start her head shot up and she focused wide eyes on what was happening, they boys seemed to be controlling soldiers who were shooting and killing enemies.

Why would someone want to do this? Didn't these boys know that war wasn't a game? That it's not fun to be out in the field with only your weapon in your hand and a comrade at your back. Rachel forced herself to take a breath and blink a few times. She wasn't sure she wanted to play anymore. An elbow to her side brought her out of her head and all the times she had had to infiltrate a compound with only a gun and her sword and back to the living room where four boys where just playing a game. The elbow had come from her right; Mike Chang was looking down at her with a frown, like he knew there was something wrong but didn't know what, so he just started talking.

"How do you like Mckinley so far Rachel? Is it anything like your old school?" Rachel just looked at the boy for a second, he had kind eyes, how could he find a game like this entertaining?

"Um, I've only been homeschooled before this, so this is my first time going to school, but Mckinley's fine. Classes are boring, but that's only because I already know all the material." Mike smiled at that, like it had been meant to be a joke, but then the blonde boy, Sam spoke up, his eyes still drifting to her jacket but she could tell he was trying.

"If you already know all the stuff they're teaching why did your parents want you to go?"

"It's just my mom, but she said she wanted me to have a normal teenage experience." Rachel was a little surprised that she was talking so much and actually telling the truth, she basically had been homeschooled, and her mom did want her to have a normal teenage experience, or as close to normal as possible.

"That's cool I guess." Sam looked back at the screen just in time to see his soldier die, and Rachel heard laughing from the lounge chair across the room. "Damn it Finn."

"Should've been paying attention dude." Rachel was stunned for a second, but then Sam's soldier was back and running around again, this made very little sense, dead was dead. How did they get back up? It was quiet for a few minutes while Rachel just watched the soldiers die and come back against a seemingly unending flow of enemies. Then Finn broke the silence. "So did you guys hear about that Fucking Mutie that robbed that bank in Columbus? The freak just walked in a demanded that they give him the money, I heard he had silver skin and was bulletproof."

"I heard that he was just trying to make a withdrawal from his account, but the bank teller wouldn't give him his money because he was a mutant." Mike's voice was quiet but everyone heard him anyway. Rachel looked up at Noah beside her and noticed that the boy was scowling at the screen and that his hands had turned white from how hard he was gripping the controller.

"Banks are for people, Muties aren't human and they don't deserve to use the same places that normal people use. They're freaks of nature." Rachel looked over to her other side at Mike who had a sad expression on his face, then to Sam who wouldn't take his eyes off the screen. How could these boys be friends with someone who didn't even think of mutants as human? How could they deal with that abuse? Sure Rachel was used to being thought of as a something instead of a someone, but these boys hadn't grown up like she had and where still willing to take it. Rachel didn't know why, but she felt the need to stick up for them and speak out, even if they wouldn't.

"How can you think that?" Rachel's voice cut through the silence and suddenly all the attention was on her, all three mutant boys looking at her with wide eyes, and Finn looking at her with a scowl. "Mutants are most defiantly human. And do you realize that what you just said was just a about the same as what people said about the blacks back when they were slaves or about any group of wronged people anywhere. That's basically segregation, isn't your brother gay? Some people would use that same argument today against him just for that."

"What are you, some kind of Mutie lover?" The boys didn't seem to hear her argument as she saw the scowl on the boy's face, the game all but forgotten and the tall boy dropped his controller on the floor and stood up. "That's about as bad as being a mutant yourself." Finn had come across the room to stand right in front of her and was looking down at her as she sat between Noah and Mike. Sam had turned away from the TV and was sitting crossed legged on the floor, his eyes darting from Finn's back to Rachel's face and back again. Rachel looked from Noah to Mike and when neither made a move Rachel stood up too, it wasn't much of an improvement height wise, but Rachel knew that if need be she could take this boy down faster than he could take his next breath. But she wasn't going to do that.

"Noah, I'm sorry but I think I'll have to learn how to play this game another time, I'm sorry if I've caused offense." If it came down to a fight Rachel knew she could kill this boy, but Rachel had not harmed anyone since she had escaped the facility and she didn't want to break her streak if she didn't have to. Rachel nodded to Mike and Sam then. "It was nice to meet you both, I'll see you at school." Then Rachel put her hands in her pockets and started towards the door.

"That's right Mutie lover, walk you freak loving ass out of here. Let's see how arrogant you are when everyone at school knows you love Muties." Rachel paused for a second, not understanding what he meant, than she realized that Finn must think that she had rejected him that morning because she thought she was better than him. Rachel just shook her head and continued out the front door.

Rachel hadn't known that there was this much prejudice over Mutants, she had know that the white and black coats at the facility had seen her, B, and J as none humans, but she had thought that was just because they had been created to be weapons, not because of their status as Mutants; now she thought maybe it was both.

* * *

Rachel had decided that she wanted to go for a walk instead of going home and having to tell her mother that one of the boys she had been hanging out with was prejudiced against mutants; and there was a park a few blocks from her house that she wanted to explore. Looking down at her watch, Rachel noted how early it was and decided that as long as she made it back in time for dinner that her mother would be happy. She may even be happy that Rachel had decided to go to the park on her own instead of just coming home after what had happened.

Once Rachel had found her way to the park she walked around for a while, making sure she had walked through the entire park before she found the best tree and climbed up as far as she could go. Rachel loved nature, she loved the smell of the grass and the sound the wind made when it shook the leaves, she loved the rough feel of bark under fingers and how she could see the sky. She hadn't been able to spend a lot of time out side when she was young, and when she had been allowed out it was only for training and missions, and even then she couldn't really enjoy it. But now she had time, she could be outside as much as she wanted, and that alone was more than worth the price of having to look over her shoulder for the rest of her life.

It was getting dark before she knew it, and with a glance down at her watch she knew that she would soon have to find her way back home, but the stars where coming out, and she wanted to spend as much time as she could soaking up the freedom that looking at the stars gave her. There was talking somewhere beneath her that made Rachel sit up fast, rationally she knew that she was to far up for anyone to see her, but something felt wrong so she started making her way down the tree slowly and silently, no one would know she was there unless she wanted them to.

When Rachel stuck her head down below a branch to see what was happening, what she saw was not something that she had expected. Santana and Brittany where surrounded by a group of men with their backs to Rachel's tree.

"Maybe you girls just need a real man to straighten you out." Rachel had missed the first part of the conversation, but it was obvious to her that she had to do something. Rachel took a second to really look at the men, there were six of them and they were all relatively big guys, Rachel's eye raked over their forms for noticeable weapons, from where Rachel could see there were no guns, but one guy seemed to have a knife in his pocket.

"Look, you guys need to leave us alone before I call the cops." Santana had positioned herself in front of Brittany and had the tall blonde sandwiched between her body and the tree, covering her, but Brittany was gripping Santana hard, if any of the guys made a move Santana would have to take the hit rather than try and dodge.

"What are the cops gonna do if all they find are your bodies? A couple of dykes like you won't be missed; hell we'd probably be doing the world a favor." The same man kept talking for the group, obviously the leader, all Rachel had to do was take that one down and the rest may scatter. What Rachel didn't understand was why Santana wasn't protecting herself, she was a shape shifter and had shifted her hand into claws for Rachel to see just the day before as a threat, why wouldn't she use the same tactic now? The leader took a step forward then and Santana visibly tensed as he brushed his hand against her cheek. "If you're good I may even be gentle."

Rachel clenched her jaw at that, she couldn't just sit there anymore, she wouldn't just sit there anymore, if she had to hurt someone then she was going to do it keeping someone else from being hurt. Rachel released the branch she had been holding and dropped to the ground, turning in the air to land feet first on the leaders shoulders, forcing him to the ground and knocking him out. Now there were only five and Rachel was capable of taking out more than five times that easy.

"I think it's time for you all to leave." Rachel was literally standing on the back of their leader, but she was small and people were prone to underestimate her. Truth be told she would underestimate herself too if she was one of them, the guys looked at her for a second before looking at each other and breaking out laughing. Rachel sighed at the laughter and stepped forward off the leaders back, this would be their last chance. "Trust me when I tell you that you do not want to fight me, you want to leave. Now."

"No sweet cheeks, I think you just gave us a better reason to stick around." The man with the knife in his pocket had stepped up, Rachel should have known that the weapon would make him brave. "Let's get her boys."

Rachel pulled her jacket off and dropped it to ground just as the first man threw a punch. It was almost laughable that these men thought they could fight. They were sloppy and untrained, almost a waste of time if not for the two girls she was protecting.

The biggest of the men came at her first, the rest of his buddies cheering him on, at first he tried to use his reach be out of Rachel range, but Rachel was fast and it only took a punch to the gut to force the man to bend over and another punch to the side of his head to send him to the ground. This made the men stop cheering, two of the men came at her together then, trying to push in on her from both sides. As soon as they were in her range Rachel kicked out with one leg and hit the man on her right in his kneecap, breaking it and forcing him to the ground while Rachel spun on her toes and brought her foot around with enough force to knock the other back to the ground when it met his side.

The fourth man rushed in then while his friends tried to get up. Rachel used the momentum of the man rushing her and swung one of her hands, palm up into the man's nose, breaking it, then punching him up under his jaw and sending him to the ground and knocking him out. The man Rachel had kicked was coming for her and a Rachel twisted on her feet again and kicked him in the head, but Rachel kept spinning and kicked the man with the broken kneecap back to the ground just as he had gotten up.

The only man left standing had pulled out his knife at some point and brought it down fast forcing Rachel to block it with her forearm, and before Rachel could think she heard the distinct 'snickt' of her claws unsheathing and then buried them in the man's gut. Rachel just watched as the light left the man's eyes then pulled her claws from his gut and let him fall to the ground. There was a noise behind her, Rachel turned and let her arms fall to her sides, one hand with her claws unsheathed and bloody and the other with a knife still buried in her forearm.

"Are you guys okay?" Santana still had Brittany wedged between herself and the tree Rachel had been in only a minute before, it happened as fights usually did, so slow Rachel had time to see everything yet so fast sometimes that her body moved on pure instinct. Santana was pale and her eyes were focused on the bloody metal claws coming from between her knuckles, but Brittany was trying to get by Santana and only seeming to see the knife still stuck in her arm. Rachel sheathed her claws then; the metallic 'snackt' forcing both the girls to meet her eyes and bring them out of their trance.

"What the hell was that Berry!?"

"Oh no, you're hurt." They spoke at the same time and Brittany finally pushed her way past a still shocked Santana and went to move towards Rachel when Santana grabbed her hand and held her back.

"She just killed a man Britt." Santana had whispered it, but Rachel had heard, she sighed and brought her arm closer to her face to look at the wound for a second before pulling the knife out and tossing it to the ground, the wound closed almost instantly.

"She just saved us San; you didn't have to feel what I did. They would have killed us." Brittany pulled her hand from Santana's and picked up Rachel's jacket as she moved closer to the smaller girl. Brittany then looked at the place on her arm where the knife had been, the only reminder being a hole in her shirt and some blood, then she took Rachel other hand and ran her fingers over where her claws had come out. Brittany was still looking at her hand when she spoke again. "They aren't natural are they?" Brittany met Rachel's eyes then and all Rachel could do was shake her head.

"What are you talking about Britt?" Santana had finally moved away from the tree and had taken her place beside the blonde, she had a scowl on her face and Rachel knew she didn't understand. But then Brittany looked away from Rachel's eyes and met Santana's and spoke in a low, broken voice.

"Rachel's been experimented on."


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: So before I even started this chapter I was reading the reviews you guys were sending in, and I was blown away, so I just have to say thank you real quick before we get into it. You all have been so supremely positive about this fic and it's amazing to see how well this is being received, so thank you. Anyway, you guys are awesome and I love you; on to business. In this chapter Leroy gets mentioned some more, and if you guessed already, yes he is my Kimura. If you don't know what that means, it's okay, it'll be explained at some point. Also Santana doesn't quiet want to give up on being mean to Rachel yet for some reason, so you can all be as annoyed with her as I am until they can have a real conversation, which may or may not involve physical fighting. So that's definitely coming. And I have dumped up the rating on this because of reasons, but don't get your hopes up for a sex scene, as I've never written one, but this fic is only going to get bloodier. Anyway, please let me know what you think, I do love hearing what you have to say. Have a good one.**

* * *

_Age 6_

R stood between B and J in the main training room at attention, the three of them all dressed in their standard training uniforms and all having only one knife latched to their belts. R had experienced group training exercises before, and they were never good. The three of them had been standing there for approximately seventeen minutes and the only other thing in the room were two doors and the large mirror were R knew the white coats and Leroy would be watching, the door behind them was the one they had been lead through, the door across from them looked solid. R guessed whatever was behind it was not something she would like. The three waited in complete silence, it was another thirteen minutes before a deep familiar voice echoed through the room, and the door opposite them swung open.

"Your mission is to protect yourself from these men; and by protect, I mean kill. These men are prisoners with death sentences who are proven fighters and killers, they were promised freedom if they survive." R looked over the men, there were six, all three times her size and at least four times her weight, one had biceps twice the size of her head. "Now there are rules." This made R pause and she almost shifted her gaze to look at J, but any movement was frowned upon during a briefing. "The first of you to kill one of these fine men is out, the winner as it were; the prisoners were told that if they strike or even go near one of you who's out, then their life is forfeit. Then the first of you to kill two of the prisoners is out, and the last is left to fight until they die, or have killed all remaining prisoners. Is this clear?"

"Clear." All of them responded simultaneously, then there was a low tone that signaled for them to begin. J immediately drew his knife and teleported to the other side of the room onto the smallest of the prisoners shoulders and buried it in his eye socket before the man had a chance to react, then J ported away and sat himself down in a corner to watch.

R looked down at B who stood beside her, she could tell the small boy was nervous, so when the five remaining prisoners rushed them, R stayed by his side. The men pressed in on them each pulling out his own knife and pushing them into a corner, but R was determined to be the last one standing, to let B out next, all she had to do was cover B's back and soften the prisoner's up. R didn't even reach for her knife.

Soon another man was down and R cautioned a glance at the boy beside her, she knew that had been his first kill ever, B meet her eyes then, and R just nodded her head, a silent praise, and the only praise he would get. R then pulled her own knife out in a reverse grip and slashed deep at the nearest man's gut, R didn't look as the man bent to keep his intestines from spilling out onto the floor but then brought the knife down on the side of his neck and pulled the knife forward, severing several important things. The man went down; R picked up his knife and continued guarding B's back, now being mindful not to slip on all the blood on the floor.

R's side was suddenly empty when B flipped up onto one of the prisoners shoulders and stabbed his knife into the man's temple and pulling it out fast, the falling with the body and landing on his feet before sending her a quick glance and making his way over to where J still sat. The two remaining men started punching at her more erratically now, she wasn't sure what they had been told they were facing, but she was sure they hadn't been expecting a group of super assassin kids in training. R kept dodging and moving, looking for openings to give the men quick deaths, but they had her in a corner, and they were both rather large. When R saw an opening her body reacted and she was moving forward fast, then dropping to her knees and using the blood to slide under one of the men, slashing at his thighs as she went. Then she stood and turned and slashed at the back of the man's knees before bringing both knives down into the his back, when she pulled the knives back out and R heard a gush of air she knew she had punctured at least one of his lungs if not both, into would take under a minute for him to suffocate. Then R felt a fist make contact with her jaw, sending her sprawling across the room and onto the floor.

She knew that she hadn't been minding her surroundings, but she had hoped the last prisoner would be too busy wetting himself to try and actually fight back. When R made to stand she was knocked back to the floor by a swift kick to her ribs; she heard a few of them crack. The kicking didn't lead up for a few second, then there was a weight on her back and arms wrapping around her head. R braced herself for what was coming. The sound of her own neck snapping caused everything to fade to black, but when she opened her eyes again to the sound of her neck realigning she was quick to take in her surroundings. The man was no longer sitting on her back, he was yelling that they had to release him, but there was no response. The man turned back to her and R remained still, not even breathing; he picked her up by her neck and started to squeeze, like he wanted to pop her head off just for good measure, he hadn't even noticed that R still held both her knives. She brought the up fast, digging them up and under the man's rib cage, then twisting them as his eyes went wide, when he dropped her R took the knives with her and stepped back just as her fell face first to the ground.

There was a loud click as a door was unlocked, then the sound of boots marching towards her, R turned just in time to hear the gun go off but wasn't fast enough to keep it from finding it's mark in her chest, R screamed and dropped to her knees as she kept pressure on the wound, she could feel her body trying to expel the bullet, and it hurt just as much going in as it did coming out. A large dark skinned man loomed over her, a smile overtook his face when R pulled her hand away and tossed the bullet aside. R didn't meet his eyes; Leroy hated it when you looked him in the eye. "You lose R. Does the little clone know what that means?" His voice was dark and low, but R could hear the smile and repressed a shiver as she shook her head. They had never said anything about what would happen if you came in last. "It means you get to do it again." There was another loud click as the door on the opposite side of the room opened again and six more men stepped out, only this time each was armed with a pistol.

* * *

_"She just saved us San; you didn't have to feel what I did. They would have killed us." Brittany pulled her hand from Santana's and picked up Rachel's jacket as she moved closer to the smaller girl. Brittany then looked at the place on her arm where the knife had been, the only reminder being a hole in her shirt and some blood, then she took Rachel other hand and ran her fingers over where her claws had come out. Brittany was still looking at her hand when she spoke again. "They aren't natural are they?" Brittany met Rachel's eyes then and all Rachel could do was shake her head._

"_What are you talking about Britt?" Santana had finally moved away from the tree and had taken her place beside the blonde, she had a scowl on her face and Rachel knew she didn't understand. But then Brittany looked away from Rachel's eyes and met Santana's and spoke in a low, broken voice._

* * *

"_Rachel's been experimented on."_

_Present Age 17_

Rachel ripped her hand away from Brittany and walked away from the pair and towards the bodies that lay on the ground. She had been a little rough on them, but most would walk away feeling like they had a bad hangover; Rachel rubbed her hands together and tried not to feel the eyes on her as she knelt beside the one man who was not as lucky as the others. Rachel then reached into pocket and pulled out his wallet.

"Whoa, what are you doing?" Santana took a step toward her then but hesitated. Rachel then pulled the man's drivers license out and memorized his name before replacing it and putting his wallet back in his pocket.

"I wanted to know his name." Rachel's voice wasn't as flat as she had meant it to be and she was shocked slightly when she heard her voice waver as she stood; the man's name ran through her head, she wondered if he had a family, parents, siblings, he didn't look old enough to have kids, but she supposed he never would now.

"What are we gonna do about this Berry? Do we call the cops? Do you chop him up into little pieces and sink him in the lake? You just killed a man and you look like nothing happened. How aren't you freaking out?" Santana was in shock, or maybe that was just how a normal person reacted when a person was killed in front of you, Rachel wasn't sure, but Brittany just looked like she wanted to ask more questions. Rachel pulled her phone out and dialed the one number that was preprogrammed in; her mother would know what to do. She always did. The phone was answered before the second ring.

"Rachel, I was just about to call and see where you were, dinners ready." Shelby sounded like she was smiling, happy that Rachel had called at all. Rachel looked down at her watch, it was two after seven, she should have been home by now.

"Mom, I did something. It was an accident." Rachel voice didn't falter this time and she didn't look at either of the girls, but her grip on the phone was tight and all Rachel wanted to do was run to her mother.

"Where are you?" Shelby didn't sound like she was smiling anymore, and she could hear her mother moving around in the background.

"I'm at the park, nearest the east entrance. Follow the path past four benches on the right then about 40 yards into the woods, there's a clearing." Rachel heard her mother start the car and knew she would be there in a few minutes; she would always come when Rachel asked her too. Rachel's throat was suddenly tight so she swallowed hard and looked at her feet. "I just wanted to watch the sun go down."

"I know sweetie, I'll be there in a few minutes. You just hold tight until I get there." Then the line went dead and Rachel ended the call on her own phone before she turned back to Santana and Brittany.

"My Mom's on the way, she'll know what to do." Rachel looked back down at the dead man for a minute until she heard footsteps moving towards her. Brittany held out her jacket for her to take. Rachel took it with a slight tilt of her head and shrugged it on; she hadn't realized that she had been cold.

"So is it true?" They had been standing in silence for a good seventy seconds before Santana had finally broken the ice. Rachel clenched her jaw and shoved her hands in her jacket pockets as she starred at the grass, counting the blades. But then Santana was beside her and twisting the girl around by her shoulders, forcing their eyes to meet. "I've heard about Mutants who get taken and experimented on, but those things in your hands, the way you fought these guys. I've never seen anything like it." Rachel just took a deep breath, in through the nose, out through the mouth, then pulled herself from the Latina's grip and walked few paces away from the group.

"I do not wish to talk about this." It was quiet then but Rachel could hear Brittany whispering in Santana's ear to leave it alone, and this made Rachel relax slightly, then there were footsteps coming from beyond the clearing and her mother was pushing back branches to move toward them. Rachel moved back over to the group as her mother walked toward her and pulled her into a hug. Then Shelby turned and looked at the two young girls who she hadn't been expecting.

"Who are you two?" Shelby still had one arm wrapped around her daughter who looked a little paler than normal, but finding out what had happened was just as important, Shelby quickly scanned the bodies scattered on the ground, only one was noticeably dead, before looking back to the teenage girls across from her.

"I'm Brittany, and this is Santana, we go to school with Rachel." Shelby noted how Brittany, the tall blonde, was holding on to Santana, the shorter Latina. Shelby nodded then as she remembered Rachel telling her about the girls.

"The Empath and the Shape Shifter." Then Shelby was pulling away from her daughter and knelt near the closest of the bodies. She didn't look up as she inspected him. "Why don't you girls make your way back to our house, I'll meet you there in few minutes, but we have to get out of here before you can tell me what happened. Dinners keeping warm in the oven, you can help yourselves."

"Yes Mom." Rachel started walking away then, but when she didn't hear Santana and Brittany following, she turned and looked at them. Santana was whispering angrily into Brittany's ear, but the blonde was just looking at Rachel and when Santana stopped talking Brittany just smiled at the brunette, grabbed her hand and lead her in the direction of Rachel.

It turned out the pair hadn't driven to the park, but had been out on a date and had decided to take a romantic walk through the park before they went out to dinner, Rachel thought maybe she should apologize, but wasn't quite sure what she would be apologizing for so she held her tongue and silently lead them back to her house. It was only a five minute walk, but when Rachel opened her front door and finally stepped inside after letting her guests go first, she felt better than when she hadn't been home. It was a strange feeling. Santana was looking at her expectantly as the three of them stood in the entryway, Rachel figured that she was supposed to be doing something, then she remembered dinner.

"Do you want anything to eat?" Her mother was so much better with people than she was, but Rachel supposed that the least she could do was feed her guests, even if she had saved their lives. Rachel moved towards the Kitchen and pulled a casserole dish from the oven as Santana and Brittany watched from where they had made themselves at home on the counter. Rachel noted Santana's phone buzzing, it had gone off a few times on the walk over as well. Rachel pulled a few plates down from a cupboard, then spooned what looked like Shepherd's pie onto three plates before offering each girl a spoon and looking back down at her plate.

Rachel had never had Shepherd's Pie before, mostly it just looked like stew and mashed potatoes, but she still wasn't quite sure about how to go about eating this. Rachel watched Santana mix hers all together and spoon a little of everything into her mouth before copying the movement. Rachel noted Santana's phone buzzing again before Rachel heard the front door open and the sound Shelby's heels made on the hard wood.

"So I'm sorry I forgot to introduce myself earlier, but I'm Dr. Shelby Berry, you girls go to school with my daughter and she told me about the little event that happened her first day where you and your group of mutant friends introduced yourselves to Rachel. Now why don't you girls tell me everything that happened tonight?"

So they did, Rachel told her mother about how Finn Hudson made her uncomfortable with all his Mutant hate so she had decided to take a walk, then had decided to stay and watch the sun set when she heard a disturbance beneath her tree and had decided that her class mates needed her help. Then Santana and Brittany told her mother how they had been on a date, taking a walk through the park when a group of guys had started following them and calling out things to them, and eventually being cornered when Rachel had jumped down to help them. Shelby took it all in silently, letting each girl have their say before deciding to ask any questions.

"So I made it look like an accident, I wiped off that knife with your blood on it and left it in one of the wounds then injected each of them with a compound that simulates alcohol, it will give them all sizeable hangovers and insure that none of them remembers what happened. You weren't there, you went to a different park or went to a friends, but there is no reason that the police will think this is anything other than a drunken accident. Understand?" Rachel nodded, it had been almost a year without incident, but her mother always seemed prepared for when they did happen, Rachel knew she should take it as a bad thing that her mother expected her to accidently kill someone all the time, but at times like this she was just happy that her mother understood. Rachel looked to Santana and Brittany then, Brittany seemed to have a grasp on what was happening and what was expected of her, Santana, on the other hand, was scowling at the pair of them.

"Whoa lady, so basically you just want us to forget what happened, we saw those knife things that come out of her hands! That just not something you forget. That's some seriously weird shit!" Rachel swallowed as the girl brought up her claws, she knew her mom knew she had used them, but her mom didn't know the other girls had seen them, Shelby glanced down at Rachel and smiled sadly at her, but Rachel couldn't quite decipher what it was meant to mean. "I think we deserve some answers."

"I think my daughter saving you when she could have walked away, helping you get out of a bad situation, and feeding you dinner is more than adequate." Shelby then looked down at the girl with a glare that made Rachel shiver slightly from beside her; Santana looked like she wanted to argue but relented as her phone went off again. "Now do you want me to drive you girls home?"

"No thank you Dr. Berry, we'll be okay to walk to a friend's house from here." Brittany answered for the pair when Santana just crossed her arms, but then the blonde was looking at Rachel again and put a small smile on her face, Rachel dropped her gaze back to the remains of her dinner. "We'll see you at school tomorrow Rachel, and thank you for your help." This made Rachel meet her eyes, her throat closed up and Rachel blinked a few times to stop the sudden onslaught of emotions from getting the better of her and nodded her head sharply once to the blonde then the brunette as Shelby lead them out.

When Shelby came back into the room she saw her daughter starring down at her hands as she rubbed them together roughly. Shelby moved behind the girl and wrapped her arms around her and stopped the movement and laid her head on top of her daughters, just holding her. Shelby had a few questions, but more than anything she knew Rachel just needed this contact right now. She had killed a man, and that never got easier.

"I know all you can think about right now is that man, but I want you to know how proud I am of you." Shelby kept her voice soft and soothing, as she held the shivering girl in her arms. Shelby didn't know how long she had been shivering, if she even knew she was, but if wasn't because she was cold. "You helped those girls when you didn't have to, and out of six guys five of them will walk away with nothing more than a headache. I know one of them is dead and that's not okay, but you saved those girls from who knows what kind of fate when you knew there was a chance that you would end up killing all of them. It's going to be okay Rachel; you're going to be okay." Shelby felt drops of water fall onto her hands and knew Rachel was crying even though she never made a sound; and Shelby just held her.

* * *

Rachel didn't get much sleep that night, so after successfully getting three hours she got up and decided she needed to meditate; Rachel then climbed up to the rafters in her room and out the window to climb up to the roof. The night was cold and the roofing rough, Rachel was in only a tank top and underwear, but she didn't deserve to be comfortable right now. She sat with her legs crossed, her palms down on her knees, and her eyes closed for a long while, just allowing herself to exist and soak up the fresh air. Opening her eyes, she sat as the sun started to come up and the stars started to fade with the growing light of the sky. Once Rachel decided that she just couldn't sit still any longer she swung herself from the roof and through the open window then jumped from the rafters, landing softly on all fours. Rachel turned fast to see her mother sitting on her bed with a stern look on her face.

"How much sleep did you get last night Rachel?" Shelby's voice was just as soft as it had been the night before, but Rachel heard a level of sternness as she stood slowly and kept her eyes on her mother.

"Enough." Shelby huffed out a breath them and rubbed the bridge of her nose between two fingers.

"We've talked about this Rachel, you need more sleep then you're getting. You can't function properly without it." Rachel clenched her jaw then, a series of memories attacking her mind from when all anyone cared about was how well she functioned; the way Shelby said it made her flash back to a time when all her mother was, was another white coat. Shelby seemed to sense her tension and stood also. "That came out wrong, Rachel, you need to be getting more sleep, it's not healthy to push yourself so hard."

"I heal, how healthy do I really need to be." Rachel turned and walked down her stairs, her mother following behind her, but when Rachel turned into the bathroom and slammed the door the only thing that followed her was the soft curse her mother released before moving away from the door.

Rachel loved her morning showers, the hot water never felt any less amazing then it had the first time she had felt it; for so many years the facility had simply hosed her off when she got to dirty, jets of freezing water cutting into her would be all she got when she returned a little to bloody from a mission. As opposed to now, when the hot water seemed to massage her back and the room filled with warm heavy steam, she wondered if normal people took hot showers for granted. Once finished Rachel moved back to her bedroom where she pulled on her clothes, a pair of dark wash jeans and grey tee shirt, before lacing up her boots and pulling her leather jacket on. Rachel put her knife back in her boot and checked her bag to make sure she still had all her emergency supplies. Rachel ate one the granola bar and replaced it with a new one before closing her bag up and slinging the strap over her shoulder, then secured her watch to her wrist as she made her way down to the kitchen where she knew her mother would be.

Rachel noted that it was far too early for her to really be leaving for school, but she was feeling like maybe she would try being rebellious today and go in early, maybe that wasn't quite being a rebel, but it did get her away from her mother. So when Rachel moved into the kitchen she didn't purposefully scuff her boots like she normally would and picked up her lunch and a apple before her mother even knew she was there. Rachel had obviously scared her, but she just stuck the apple in her mouth and nodded to her mother before turning and making her way to the front door as she put the brown paper bag in her messenger bag. Shelby didn't even have time for her heart rate to return to normal before the front door was closing again.

Rachel walked to school in silence, the only sound being when she would take a bite of her apple, then when it was gone Rachel tossed it in an open garbage just on the edge of the campus. Rachel smiled as she pushed open the doors and stepped into the completely silent school, she found the contrast between what it was and what she knew it to become interesting. The halls were usually so full of noise and life, were now empty. Rachel took her time moving through the school as she slowly made her way to the auditorium, just letting the stillness of her environment wash away the chaos surrounding her thoughts.

Something made Rachel pause before entering the auditorium, an instinct, and Rachel knew to trust her instincts; so she put her ear to the door, took a deep breath and listened. There were people inside, the murmuring that Rachel heard was proof enough, but she couldn't make out words or voices; she had to pause again, there was no way that they had found her, at most it would take three days before the police report would find its way to the system and even then, Shelby had made it look like a regular knife wound. Rachel clenched her jaw and repeated it again and again that they weren't here, this was just a group of kids in the auditorium. Rachel opened the door a crack then and peered inside, what she saw made one of her eyebrows twitch.

Rachel opened the door fully and silently made her way towards the group of mutants sitting in the front row and on the stage. It seemed she couldn't keep her emotions in check though, because by the time she was three steps down the row a blonde head was looking up at her and a pair of bright blue eyes were starring into her own.

"Morning Rachel." The group fell silent then and each pair of eyes turned to watch her as she continued down to meet them, though when she made it to the stage she staid a good ten yards from the closest person in the group. Rachel didn't answer, instead just looked each person there in the eye, Noah and Brittany wore no expression at all, Mike Sam and Santana all looked slightly weary, but it was Kurt and Quinn who's looks Rachel hadn't expected, they just looked sad; it didn't take a second for Rachel to guess that they all knew what had happened.

"You told them." It wasn't a question, but when Rachel starred Santana down and the slightly taller girl couldn't look her in the eye it was all the confirmation she needed.

"Don't you think we had a right to know?" Quinn had been sitting on the stage with an arm wrapped around Brittany when Rachel had walked in, but know she was standing with her arms wrapped around her waist and she just looked so sad. Rachel guessed that Quinn had been crying, but she wasn't sure what the blonde had to cry about. "My best friends were harassed last night and could have been seriously hurt but you don't think I even have the right to know that it happened?"

"You were the one who kept calling Santana's phone." Rachel remembered how it practically hadn't stopped buzzing the whole time she was with the girl. Rachel looked to Santana then who had stood as well and had moved to stand just behind Quinn. "Did you go and tell everyone straight away last night or did you wait until your little meeting this morning to tell them what happened?"

"She didn't have to say anything." Kurt, who was still seated on the stage was looking down at her hands now, so Rachel balled them into fists and shoved them deep in her pockets, she didn't miss how everyone's eyes followed the movement. "Puck wanted to tell us about what you said to Finn yesterday, but when Santana, Brittany, and Quinn walked in I couldn't help but over hear what had happened. I think it was brave, what you did; from how Brittany tells it, things could have ended a whole lot differently."

"Hello, did you miss the part where she made a pin cushion out of some guy? That not brave, that's homicide." Santana had this look on her face that Rachel could only described as a mix between respect and fear, it was a look Rachel had seen directed towards her a lot, but not for a long time now. "Then she's all cool and collected like it's nothing new to kill a guy and calls her mom to help clean up the mess. I still say we deserve some answers hobbit."

"It was just…" Rachel shook her head and shrugged her shoulders when she couldn't find the right word, she didn't know how to explain. Her body had just taken over, she reacted without thought, she really hadn't meant to kill him.

"Instinct. Like me after Adams and Karofsky tried to slushie you on your first day." Noah had been silent up till now, but he had been on the receiving end of her instinct before, and he was just glad he hadn't been stuck with the pointy end. Rachel looked the boy in the eye for a second before nodding slowly and looking down at her shoes. "But what about the part where Britts thinks you where experimented on? Is that true?"

Rachel clenched her jaw and swallowed hard before looking back up at the group of young people in front of her. She didn't know them, she didn't owe them anything. She also didn't want to see them hurt; which is what would happen if it was ever found out that she had told then what she truly was. Rachel looked Brittany in the eye and locked herself down as hard as she could.

"No."

"You're lying." It hadn't come from Brittany, or even Kurt, but from Quinn; and when Rachel looked into the girl's sad hazel eyes and her stomach tightened and heart rate jumped, she didn't know how this human girl had seen through her.

* * *

Classes were long, and Rachel felt eyes on her whenever she sat still too long, she had had every class with someone who know she had taken a life the night before, and they weren't shy about starring. There were also others starring at her, not like the day before when they were waiting to see what she would do next, but glaring. As she walked down the halls between classes there were whispers and pointing in her direction, one phrase on repeat all morning because of a comment she had made to a simple minded boy with a bruised ego. 'Mutie lover' seemed to follow her wherever she went. So when lunch rolled around and Rachel started towards the auditorium she paused, that didn't seem like a safe place anymore and she would get no peace there. So Rachel started wondering the halls, it didn't take five minutes before she came upon the door that would lead her to the roof, all it took was a quick swipe of her claws against the steel lock and she was golden.

It was a little cold out, the sky was grey, and the air smelled faintly of rain, Rachel knew it would only be a matter of time before she would have to move back inside, but she couldn't help the slight smile on her face as she sat on the edge of the building with her legs hanging off the side and the wind blowing through her hair. This was freedom.

Rachel had been sitting in relative silence for almost ten minutes when the stair well door opened and Rachel heard the sound of footsteps crunching on the gravel. She didn't turn to see who it was, either she was caught and about to be in trouble or someone had come looking for her.

"There's usually a pad lock on the door." Rachel closed her eyes as her heart jumped slightly in her chest at the slightly playful tone, but still she didn't turn around.

"There was." Rachel tossed the lock behind her in the direction she knew Quinn to be. When Rachel heard a small squeak and not the sound of anything hitting the ground she knew the other girl had caught it.

"It's cut." There were footsteps again and then Quinn was sitting beside her while still looking down at the broken lock. When Quinn looked her in the eyes and arched an eyebrow all Rachel could do was shrug her shoulders. Quinn heaved a sigh and put the lock between them and remained quiet for a full minute before Rachel turned her gaze on her. Quinn's eyes wore boring into hers, searching for something. "You really didn't mean to kill him did you?" It sounded so sincere, like she really believed it, but if she truly believed it then why ask at all. So instead of trying to explain Rachel swung her legs back over the ledge and stood to leave. "Wait, I'm sorry, you don't need to leave."

Rachel turned back around and saw that if she would have walked out then, she would have forgotten her bag; Rachel never forgot anything. What was it about this girl that made Rachel say things she normally wouldn't say and do things she normally wouldn't do.

"Do you want to know how I found you when I saw you weren't in the Auditorium?" Quinn was looking at her bag too, then she stood and picked it up and handed it off as Rachel gave no answer. "I just thought about how usually it's so peaceful in there, and the first time you were in there you were up on the cat walk, so I just thought of other high up peaceful places on campus, and this is all I could think of." Rachel dropped the other girls gaze and instead looked out into the horizon, she wondered if she was really that predictable. "You can still go to the Auditorium though, I promise I won't let the others gang up on you." Rachel looked Quinn in the eyes again as she draped the strap of her bag over her shoulders; she wasn't sure what to say, only that for some reason she wanted to say something. So instead she reached into the brown paper bag that was still in her hand and pulled out the cookie her mother had packed for her and broke it in half before holding one half out to Quinn.

"Do you want half my cookie?" Rachel felt a strange tingling in her stomach as Quinn's hand brushed hers as she smiled and accepted the half a cookie and pushed a stay lock of golden hair behind her ears, Rachel decided she needed to sit down, so she walked back over to the ledge and sat back down. It was silent as they ate Rachel's cookie, and Rachel found she enjoyed Quinn's presence, she found that it felt similar to how she felt when she was around Noah, just with weird things always happening. Quinn's eyes held no ill intent; in fact it seemed to Rachel that all Quinn wanted to do was be nice to her, for some strange reason, Quinn just made her feel like she was okay; that one day everything would be okay. Quinn cleared her throat after a while and Rachel could only guess at what the other girl had to say.

"So I know you don't want to talk about it, and I get that, but I think you need to." Rachel had been looking at Quinn as she played with the broken lock, and while the girl didn't say exactly what she meant for Rachel to talk about, it was easy for Rachel to see what she meant. "And I know you have your mom, and that I'm not a mutant, but maybe you need to talk about it with someone who doesn't know you. I know you have no reason to trust me, and that we don't know each other, but I want to help you. "

"You shouldn't." That made Quinn brake her gaze on the lock and look up at her, there was a furrow in her brown and a softness to her eyes that made Rachel want to talk to her, make her want to talk period, but it was dangerous, and maybe Rachel would just have spell that out. "It would change you, the things I would tell you, they would haunt you and scare you, you would have nightmares about them. A girl like you would… it would change you. So you shouldn't want to help me. And even if I did talk about it, you would just see that I'm beyond help."

"No one's beyond help." Quinn looked like she truly believed that, and all Rachel couldn't think about was how naive that was. "And whatever it was that happened to you, whatever they did to you, you're out now and they can't get you anymore." Rachel huffed out a loud breath, and one of her lips quirked up in a sad attempt of a smile.

"Whatever you or Brittany thinks about me and what happened to me is wrong. If there's one thing you need to understand about me, it's that they didn't let me go." Rachel let that sink in for a minute as she watched Quinn's face change.

"You escaped."

"And they are looking for me." Quinn stood then and faced away from the ledge while putting her hands on her hips. Rachel was suddenly anxious, if there was any time that Quinn was going to walk away it would be right now, and she wasn't sure why that made her feel so terrible inside. It was a full minute later when Quinn turned around again, but her eyes instantly went down to where Rachel was rubbing her hands together. Then the bell rang and Quinn nearly jumped from her skin.

"I have to go to class." Quinn's eyes where soft and sad, but they didn't meet Rachel's.

"I understand." Rachel watched as Quinn tuned and walked away from her, disappearing behind the door that lead back down to the rest of the school. Rachel just looked down at her hands then and clenched one into a tight fist before flexing the specialized muscle in her forearm that released her claws with a metallic 'snickt' she heard a soft gasp and looked up to find a wide eyed Quinn looking down at the glinting metal protruding from her knuckles. Rachel sheathed her claws then, but Quinn was still starring at her hands. "I thought you had class."

"I do, I just, I realized that me walking away just then might have felt like I was abandoning you, or giving in to your little way of trying to protect me. You can still talk to me. You can still trust me even if you think that one day those sicko's that did that to you, are going to come back and find you and kill everyone you've ever met, because that's not going to happen. You got away for wherever they had you, and I can't explain it, but I have to know you, and no matter how scary you are or how damaged, I always get what I want in the end." Quinn was smiling slightly as her soft hazel eyes finial broke away from her hands and bore into Rachel's, then she licked her lips and one side of her mouth quirked up into a smile as she pointed with her thumb over her shoulder towards the door. "I just really have a calculus test that I have to get to, but I'll see you in Spanish."

Quinn walked away again then, after Rachel had nodded her head in a silent okay, but this time she felt different, her chest didn't feel as tight and her eyes didn't sting, and she was excited to go to her Spanish class. Rachel also suddenly remember it was Friday, and that school wasn't in session on Saturday's and Sunday's, Rachel knew there was turn for the combination of the two days, but she just never seemed to remember what it was, and that she wouldn't be seeing Quinn after her Spanish class for more than forty eight hours, and that made her feel bad again.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: New cover art by Sana Takeda who did the art for a few of the issues in the X-23 comic, just so you don't think I can draw cause I really really can't, I found it through Google. Also I would like to thank you guys for putting up with my crap, I'm a lazy writer, I pretty much only write when I have nothing to read, lucky for you guys none of the stories I follow have been updating lately. Thank you for reading, and I hope you all don't hate me now and give up.**

* * *

_Age 12_

R had just returned from her latest mission; it hadn't gone according to plan. She stood at attention with her hands behind her back, looking forward into the blank white wall of the empty conference room that she had been led to to wait for her debriefing. It wasn't even that she had messed up; it was a random incident that could have happened to anyone. It had been exactly 0315 and R had been sent to infiltrate a cruise ship with an important diplomat onboard, only, one of the other passengers had decided to take a late night stroll and had seen the blood that lingered on her uniform. There were to be no witnesses so she had advanced the random passenger, but they had started screaming. A simple hit had turn into a 17 people blood bath. The Black coats were not pleased.

Leroy walked in with a group of unhappy looking black coats after another 37 minutes; R didn't look at them, but out of the corner of her eye she could tell that he was smiling. The Black coats took their seats around the large conference table opposite her, and lay the mission file open.

"I was told it was briefed on the mission." They weren't talking to her, but rather Leroy who had come to stand beside her.

"Project R had read the file and knew what the mission entailed, Sir." Of course she had known, she had pored over the file for hours, studying the layout of the ship, knowing her point of entry and all methods of escape as well as she always did. This hadn't been her fault; they all knew it, but all the extra dead were not something to be over looked.

"This wasn't a part of the plan, we've always known that this one was defective, it was just a matter of time until it showed it's true colors. I vote for termination, it can't be trusted to follow orders." R's jaw tightened, she knew that she had been more of an accident that anything else, but termination just because they all knew she had started menstruating and was hormonal did not translate to defective. R wanted to say something, but she knew that that would only be seen as insubordination, and another reason for termination.

"That's taking it a little far, we knew this would happen at some point when we gave the go along for the female specimen. We put more than a decade's worth of money and time into Project R and even if we do now have the male specimen that we wanted doesn't mean that we just throw this one away after one miss step." R's eyes drifted to the Black coat who had just spoken up for her, before letting her eyes fall back on the blank wall. At least one of them seemed to be on her side.

"I agree, termination is too extreme, and from the notes it's seems this was just a clean up; a clean up gone wrong yes, but it was still trying to keep itself and by extension us, from being exposed." The black coat loosened his tie slightly as R felt eyes on her, her skin crawled. "I vote solitary confinement on Sub-level W."

R's eyes widened before she could stop them, Sub-level W was where all the hard torture happened. She had only been down there a few times before, but each time was one that would be burned into her brain for the rest of her existence. That was definitely not a place that she wanted to be, she would rather take the termination.

"I second confinement on Sub-level W." The rest of the black coats fell in line after that and R's heart dropped from her chest as she tried to keep herself from staking. Leroy put a large hand on her shoulder.

"I'll see to it right away." Then she was being handcuffed and led out of the conference room. Shelby was standing just outside and the look on Leroy's face must have told her she needed to know, because then she was looking R hard in the eye's with an expression that she didn't understand, but that made her feel slightly better than she had before. Shelby didn't have clearance to go to Sub-level W, Leroy wouldn't even let her ride the elevator down with them. So R took in the sight of her mother for the last time in who knew how long; there had been no talk of how long she would be down there.

When the elevator dinged and Leroy was pushing her down another hall she couldn't help but feel a little glad mixed in with all her fear; as long as she was down here she wasn't out there killing, and that much was ok.

"Here we are." Leroy uncuffed her hands and pushed her backwards into a small closet like room, forcing her hands above her head into the wall mounted restraints, then doing the same with her ankles before stepping back and closing her in, the door stopping just before touching her. Leroy was talking to someone then, but she couldn't make it out through the thick metal of the door. There was the sound of something moving as Leroy opened a small window in front of her eyes, just enough for her to see his sinister smile before he turned and nodded to someone unseen.

R screamed as half a dozen thick metal spikes plunged into her from the wall behind her, she took a deep breath and let the pain settle through her, she tried to pushed herself away from them, but the small room and the restraints keep her in place and bleeding out, though she was making new blood just as fast as she was losing it. R saw Leroy nod again and she screamed again as the spikes acted as electrodes and burning pain rushed through her. It lasted a full thirty seconds before it stopped, R noted that her fingers were steaming as Leroy smiled at her through the small window as she tried to regain control of her breathing; sixty seconds later and it started again.

* * *

_Present Age 17_

When it had finally started to rain Rachel decided that it was time for her to move inside; Quinn had told her that she could have the auditorium and now that lunch was over and classes where in session there would be less a chance of Rachel running into to people that she didn't want to run into. Making her way down the steps and back into the school, Rachel put the cut lock back on the door and started her way towards the auditorium quietly.

"I was wondering where you had gotten to." Noah had been at the end of the hall when she had come out of the stairwell and was now making his way toward her. "Look, you probably have some questions for me; I know I have questions for you. Why don't we head somewhere and we can talk for a bit?"

"Don't you have class now." The boy nodded but that just confused her, if he had class then why wasn't he in it? Wasn't there some kind of rule about that sort of thing? But when he didn't offer any kind of reasoning why he wasn't where he was supposed to be Rachel just started walking towards the auditorium and allowed Noah to follow after her. Once there and seated Rachel took a second to look at the boy she had known for the past few days, thinking of what she wanted to ask him. When it had been silent for a few minutes Noah seemed to be uncomfortable and had to fill it with words.

"So I know you kind of got off to a bad start with the guy, but I've know Finn forever and he doesn't mean to be a small minded douche most of the time, and it doesn't help that he doesn't know that most of his best friends are something he hates, so we can't really blame him for it. But he's still my best friend." Rachel was taken aback by the shear amount of words Noah had hurled at her and had to take a second to take them all in before responding.

"I'm sure he's very nice, but I'm not one to judge." Rachel knew she should say more, should try and find a way to convince to boy that something needed to be done about his best friend that slung shit at the very core of his being at every chance he got, but she just didn't know how. "You could always just tell him."

"Are you kidding?" Noah let out a self deprecating laugh at the suggestion but then just shook his head. "Look, being what we are in this town isn't just social suicide, it's actual suicide, who knows what these hillbillies would do if they found out about us."

"I don't understand. You say Finn is your friend, but he would turn on you." Rachel didn't have friends, she didn't know the rules, the closest she had ever had was J and B and they were more like colleagues than friends. Surly someone you would call your best friend would stand by you no matter the circumstance.

"I think he would." Noah's voice was quiet and he wouldn't meet her gaze, this was clearly very hard for him.

"Then he was never really you friend." It seemed so simple, but when Noah let out a breath that he seemed to have been holding she was sure she was missing something.

"Let's talk about something else. I think you should keep your head down for a little while." Rachel looked at Noah with furrowed brows and the boy rolled his eyes before continuing. "More than you already have been, Finn told everyone he could about what you said yesterday, and he's got a lot of people talking about it. It's a real possibility that they could come after you."

"But my Mother said that I'm not supposed to get into fights." Rachel recalled the conversation she had with Shelby back on her first day when she had almost been slushied. She was allowed to defend herself, but what if that didn't stop them coming after her?

"Just try and steer clear of big groups of jocks and you should be ok, you're ninja like, that should be easy for you." Noah pulled his phone out then and sighed as he stood up and collected his things. "I should get back to class; the teacher may think I fell in the toilet if I don't get back soon." Rachel watched to boy walk away with more questions, surly it was impossible for a boy of his size to fall in a toilet. Rachel tried not to think about it as she pulled out one of her text books and started to read.

Once the bell rang Rachel packed up her things and started towards her last class of the day. She heard mummers as she passed by just as she had all day but just as she was about to turn to cross the hall and go into the Spanish room a large body slammed into hers causing her to be pushed into the wall of lockers. Rachel frowned at the large boy as he just kept walking without acknowledging her, Rachel shook her head and looked back to see a pair of hazel eyes looking at her. Quinn was beside her in an instant, looking far more concerned than Rachel thought she should be.

"Are you ok?" Quinn was reaching out for her like she wanted to touch her but was holding herself back, Rachel was just more confused. Why wouldn't she be ok?

"Of course I'm ok." Rachel let one of her eyebrows raise as she looked at the blonde, didn't she remember that Rachel was a healer.

"You know what I meant." Ok, no she didn't but as Quinn grabbed onto the sleeve of Rachel's jacket and pulled her along behind her into the Spanish class Rachel was ok with letting the blonde think she did. Rachel tried to pull away from the girl and sit in her predetermined seat, but then Quinn was giving her a harsh glare and yanked on her sleeve again and Rachel allowed herself to be pulled into the seat beside the girl even if it wasn't the seat she had chosen.

* * *

The bell had just rung and Rachel was getting her books out of her locker while Quinn talked to Santana and Brittany a few lockers away. Quinn wanted to give her a ride home, she didn't understand it, but the thought of being alone in a car with the blonde made Rachel shiver in a way that was most certainly not because she was cold. Rachel had a small smile on her face as she closed her locker and secured her bag over her shoulder when she tensed a second before a pair of large hands shoved her forward into her locker. There was laughing in her ears when she moved to push off the locker only to be shoved forward again, harder.

"Freaks like you need to be shown their place here, Mutie Lover." Rachel didn't recognize the voice, but it had gone silent in the once noisy hallway. Then Rachel moved to try and push off the locker again only to be pushed forward again. This time her forehead connected hard with the lock, Rachel felt the sting of her skin rip open and knit itself back together in an instant; Rachel was lucky it hadn't had time to bleed. "Aren't you gonna say anything Mutie Lover?" Rachel took a deep breath and slung her bag off her shoulder and let it drop to the floor then turned to face her attacker, keeping her back flat against the row of lockers behind her. There were three, the two who had tried to slushie her on her first day A. Addams and D. Karofsky, and Finn Hudson who was standing behind to other two with a grin on his face. Rachel made to move forward again, Karofsky moved to shove her again but Rachel dodged to her side and instead of shoving her, the boy only slammed his hand down hard on the locker.

"Bitch!" There was a round of laughter with the boys curse as her held his hand, then the other boy lunged for her, Rachel swiveled her body and ducked as the darker boy came at her, causing him to slam into his friend and ram them both into the lockers. Rachel took another step back from them and when Finn moved her leg out as if to trip her, she turned her leg out and caught her foot around his and pulled it out from under him, making him fall unexpectedly to the floor. Another round of laughter sounded from the students who had surrounded her, Rachel let her eyes drift from the boys for a second, searching the crowd. When Rachel's gaze met Quinn's, Rachel could tell by the tan hand on her shoulder that she was being held back from coming to help her. Not that she really needed help anyway, but it was a nice thought all the same.

Quinn's eyes widened and that was all the extra time Rachel had to ready herself for another boy grabbing her from behind. Rachel should have felt him coming, should have known that if a few of these jocks came after her than it only made sense that there would be more where that came from. But now a boy was holding both her arms in a tight grip as Addams and Karofsky picked themselves up and moved towards her. There were a number of ways that Rachel could break the boys hold, but all involved hurting him somehow and her mother had told her not to fight unless it was self defense. So when the first boy's fist connected with her face she just unclenched her fists and took it. The blow was hard and Rachel heard the crack of her nose breaking before she felt it, and then Rachel moved, she twisted one of legs to wrap around the boys behind her and pushed all her weight forward fast, the large boy hadn't been prepared for the move and soon they were both falling forward, but Rachel twisted their bodies in air knocking into the boy who had just broken her nose and both boys landed with a grunt though Rachel was kneeling over one of them. She stood and three more boys were quick to surround her, throwing sloppy punches the Rachel dodged easily, this seemed to only make the boys angrier and Rachel knew that they weren't just going to stop. So she struck, a quick jab to the gut and one boy was down, Rachel dodged and blocked another flurry of punches before throwing an uppercut under another boys jaw sending him flying back and spin kick to the last boy making him fall.

The hall was suddenly very quiet, there was a ring of students surrounding her and the jocks as they all lay wounded on the floor panting while she stood above them not even breathing hard. Then Rachel saw Puck, Mike, and Sam push their way through the crowd toward her and she looked back into the crowd, spotting a pair of concerned Hazel eyes. The boys on the ground looked to be moving to get up again, but Rachel decided that she had made enough of a spectacle of herself for one day and grabbed her bag from the floor and started to make her way from the fight, the students parted for her, looking at her with wide fearful eyes, Rachel heard taunts being called after her and almost wanted to stop, to turn back and, then there was a hand on her back leading her and Rachel didn't need to turn to know that it was Quinn; she let the blonde lead her to the nearest bathroom.

"Are you alright?" Rachel gave a small nod and pulled away from the other girl and moved towards to mirror finally feeling the warm wetness of her blood where it had already dried on her face.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Rachel locked eyes with the other girl behind her as she looked in the mirror but when she looked at herself she frowned. "My nose healed wrong." Rachel put both hands over her nose then and only had time to register Quinn shocked eyes before the loud crunch of Rachel re breaking her nose and setting it in the right position.

"That was disgusting." Quinn's nose was scrunched up in a way that made Rachel want to reach out and smooth it down, but she just blinked it away and moved her hands away from her face before stretching her face out a few times as the ache of re breaking her nose faded away. When Rachel turned on the water and wiped the blood from her face before sipped some from her hands and spitting it back out only to come out bloody, Quinn couldn't take it anymore. "Why did you let that guy hit you? You could have killed those guys, but you did just enough to wear them out and knock them down." Quinn had known what she had seen, Rachel had just let it happen, hadn't even tried to fight, it just didn't make any sense.

"Exactly." Rachel washed her hands then before drying them off and shoving her hands in her pockets. "I promised my mom I would only fight in self defense, and that's what I did."

"But you could have…"

"You think I enjoy fighting." It wasn't a question, she didn't know why but she had thought maybe the other girl would get it, that she would understand that all Rachel wanted was to be invisible, be normal whatever that was. Rachel looked the other girl in the eye for a moment and saw the confusion. "I don't want to fight ever again, but sometimes I have to. Sometimes it just happens." Rachel looked down at her watch, she needed to be heading home, Shelby was expecting her and she didn't know if she wanted to ride home with the other girl now. "I have to go."

"I'm still giving you a ride home, if you want." Quinn was blocking the door, and as much as Rachel would have liked to just walk away, there was another part of her that wanted to spend time with the other girl, so Rachel just sighed and gave a slight nod while looking at her feet. "Cool, but we should wait another minute before we leave, give the halls a chance to clear out." It was silent then and after a minute Rachel looked up the other girl to see her staring at her.

"What?"

"Um, nothing, let's go." Quinn turned then and Rachel followed after her silently as they made their way out of the school and towards the parking lot. The blonde lead Rachel to a red VW Bug and tossed her bag in the back seat before motioning for Rachel to get in. Rachel climbed in the small car and kept her bag on her lap as she buckled her seat belt and Quinn backed out of her space and turned out of the parking lot. Rachel kept her eyes on the road, but when they were stopped at a stop light she felt the other girl's eyes on her again.

"Ask whatever you want. I may not answer." Rachel eyes went down to her bag and she let her fingers traces to shape of her gun hidden in the bottom while Quinn collected her thoughts.

"I just, I wondered," Quinn paused again as the light turned green and continued towards Rachel's house. "You can block out Kurt."

"I can." Rachel looked at the other girl then with a slight furrow in her brow. That wasn't a question.

"Can you teach me how to do it?" Rachel thought about that for a minute as they neared her house.

"I guess, I couldn't really teach you physically, but I could give you the theory behind it." They pulled into Rachel's driveway then and she turned to look at the blonde as she unbuckled her seat belt. "I suppose it would be beneficial if I taught Santana and Brittany also at the same time as opposed to you telling them later." Quinn blushed slightly but nodded. "Did you want to do this now?"

"Could I go home and drop off my school stuff and change first? I'll call San and Britt too." Rachel just nodded and opened the door to get out. "I'll be back in ten minutes." Rachel nodded again before closing the door and watching Quinn pull out of her drive before going inside. Her mother was going to be ecstatic.

* * *

When Quinn arrived Shelby was still running around the house trying to tidy things up, so Rachel had to answer the door.

"Hey." Rachel was stunned a little when she saw Quinn out of her Cheerios uniform, the blonde was wearing a pair of old looking jeans and a dark green tee shirt, but Rachel's stomach clenched tight and her mouth went dry; but Rachel swallowed and licked her lips as she stepped aside and let the girl inside, just then noticing she was alone. "Where are Santana and Brittany?"

"They'll be here soon; they were in the middle of something when I called." Rachel was confused by the blush that rose on Quinn's cheeks.

"Rachel is that your friend?" Shelby bustled into the entry with her purse in hand and a wide smile on her face.

"Mom this is Quinn, Quinn this is my Mom Dr. Shelby Berry." Rachel was so on top of the introduction thing, and Shelby smiled at her daughter as she shook the hand of her little friend.

"Pleasure to meet you Dr. Berry." Shelby liked this girl already, she was polite.

"Nice to meet you too dear." Shelby dug around in her purse and pulled out a fifty dollar bill and handed in over to her daughter with a stern expression. "You can order Pizza latter if you get hungry, and I'm serious Rachel call if you need anything." Rachel took the money with an eye roll and Shelby just pulled her into a hug. "I'll be back early, please stay in the house."

"I know mom." Shelby kissed Rachel on the forehead before releasing the girl and grabbing her coat.

"You girls be good." Then Shelby closed the door behind her and Rachel shoved the money in her pocket as Quinn eyed her.

"My mom's first shift at the hospital is tonight till early tomorrow, she was worried about leaving me alone." Rachel started toward the kitchen and Quinn followed after her. "She was happy that I wouldn't be alone all night. Do you want a water?"

"Sure." Quinn watched Rachel reach into the fridge then and pull out four water bottles tossing one over to her. As Quinn unscrewed the cap she looked around. Most of the room was unpacked and cleaned, but down the hall Quinn saw that there were still some boxes that hadn't been unpacked.

"Sorry about the mess, we haven't got to the living room yet." She kept meaning to get everything set up, but she just hadn't. "So I have a question." Quinn looked back at her then with a slight tilt of her head. "Sam's mutation is super speed."

"How in the world did you guess that?"

"The way he's so shifty and how when he's nervous he talks really fast gave him away, plus his heartbeat is three times faster than normal." Rachel said it so casually, but Quinn just frowned, how did she know that? "Not that I felt his pulse or anything; it's just, you can see a person's heart rate if you know what to look for."

"Okay." Quinn took another sip and of her water and tried not to think to hard about that. "There wasn't a question anywhere in there."

"What's Mike's mutation? I have a class where he sits near me but as far as I can tell he's normal." Rachel had been paying close attention to the Asian boy, it was usually pretty easy for her to pick up on what was different about a person, but Mike seemed to have a good grip on whatever it was.

"Oh, Mike's a telekinetic." Quinn smiled at the look of realization that crossed Rachel's face. "He had to tell me, I'm sure if you'd have asked him he would have said." Rachel nodded to herself as a high pitched soft tone sounded through the house a few seconds before the doorbell. Quinn stayed in the kitchen as Rachel went to answer to door and looked around a little more, there were a few pictures on the fridge of Rachel and her mom, the Grand Canyon, The Golden Gate Bridge, The Space Needle, but Rachel wasn't smiling in any of them.

"Hey Q." Santana entered the kitchen first with a grin and Quinn smiled at her friend, Rachel and Brittany followed after her with Brittany holding one of Rachel's arms in a tight hug, Quinn had to stifle a laugh at how uncomfortable the smaller girl looked in the hold. "So, Q said you were gonna teach us how to block out fairy boy."

"Yes, we should go up to my room and get started." Rachel grabbed her water bottle and Santana grabbed both of the unopened bottles as she followed the group out of the kitchen. Rachel led them up the stairs and down the hall before pulling the string in the ceiling that let the stairs to the attic fall and climbed up. Quinn looked at her friends for a second before Brittany climbed up next.

Once Quinn made the climb up next she took in the girl's room. There really wasn't very much to look at, a neatly made bed with plain white bedding against one wall, a desk with nothing on it, a cheap looking desk chair, and a dresser with a mirror sitting on top of it. The floor was all wood, and Quinn looked up at the rafters for a second before eyeing the one round window, up high in the middle of the nitch between where to ceiling came to a point.

"You have nothing in hear." Santana seemed to be looking around to, though Quinn thought she was looking more for something to use against the other girl than curiosity, but she was right, the room was huge and almost empty. Then Quinn saw Brittany frowning at a panel of wood on the floor, the taller blonde knelt down and pushed against it, and Quinn heard a soft click as the panel popped up.

"Brittany, don't touch that." Rachel moved next to the girl but she had already moved the floor board out of the way and saw what she had hidden underneath it.

"You have a sword in you floor." Quinn moved to stand near her friend and look over her shoulder, and there was indeed a sword in the floor, but what Quinn focused on was the gun sitting beside it, and the pile of extra magazines for it. Then Brittany reached out to touch the sword but Rachel grabbed her wrist.

"Please don't touch that." Rachel didn't know how the blonde had stumbled onto one of her stores of weapons; she had two more in her room, one holding her second sniper rifle. Brittany looked at her then with wide sad eyes, she clenched her jaw and locked herself down, but whatever the blonde seemed to be looking for she found because she pulled her hand away and breathed deeply.

"It was such a sad bit of floor." There was emotions attached to the weapon, that's how she had done it, it didn't surprise Rachel at all then, that was her first sword, the first weapon she had taken a life with, she had had it when she escaped, but she didn't know what made her hold on to it now. "I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry for." Rachel voice was soft, but she didn't looked at the other girls as she put the floor board back in place and listened for the soft click it made when secured. Then she sat down on it before looking up at the other girls in the room. "You should all sit, make yourselves comfortable."

Santana had barely held herself back when Rachel had grabbed Brittany, but she wasn't afraid to admit that it scared her a little that the smaller girl had weapons in her room, not to mention the weapons in her arms. So she did nothing, but when Brittany sat down beside Rachel looking like she was trying not to cry she sat down beside her and took her hand, trying to project calmness into the taller girl. When Quinn sat down on her other side on the floor so that they were sitting in a lose circle she breathed out heavily.

"Okay, so there are a few ways to block a telepath, but they all take great focus." Rachel crossed her legs and put her hands palms up on her knees before closing her eyes, she heard the other girls shuffling around as if to copy her movements, she allowed them to settle for a moment before she relaxed herself and opened her eyes again, seeing the three other girls looking at her. "The first is by far the easiest, you simple think in a language that the telepath doesn't know, though that method doesn't usually last very long because the telepath can then just dig into your brain to get to where that language is translated back to one they understand, but it can throw them for a while. Another of the same fashion is to run multiplication tables or the alphabet over and over in your head to keep yourself from thinking things you don't want them to know."

"So you're saying when I think in Spanish that Kurt doesn't understand, even if he hears it." Rachel nodded at Santana and was surprised by the smug smile that spread across her lips.

"Another easy way to block them is to think about the most painful thing you ever experienced, if they're in your head and you go from blocking them to projecting at them it hurts them, not physically but they may feel the phantom pain of your memory if you project it hard enough."

"Like you did to Kurt?" Brittany asked with her head tilted to the side slightly, she remembered how Kurt had nearly fallen over from the pain of it, she wasn't sure she wanted to do that.

"Yes, but the best way is to picture something hard surrounding you." The trio around her looked confused so Rachel took a deep breath and tried to explain it better. "So you know the metal on my claws." Rachel paused as they looked down at her arms for a second. "It's called Adamantium, it's one of the strongest metals in the world pretty indestructible, I picture that my skull is coated in it, that way nothing came get through one way or another. Then none of my brain waves leave my brain because they can't and a telepath's brain waves can't get in because Adamantium is so strong."

"That's super weird."

"It is, but telepathy is all about will power, and if your will is stronger than theirs, if you picture a wall or a suit of armor or whatever the strongest thing you can think of is, and you believe nothing can break through, than nothing will. You just have to be constantly picturing whatever it is." Rachel looked over the girls faces, they looked confused; then Brittany seemed to get it.

"So I picture the strongest thing I can so it can protect my brain?" Rachel nodded and Brittany smiled. "It can be anything."

"Anything that's strong. But you have to have it pictured always, before you go to bed, when you wake up, in the shower. You should picture it so much that after a while you don't even realize you're doing it then they can't take you by surprise." Realization crossed the other girl's faces then. "The thing is, when you do this, telepaths will want to get to your thoughts even more, causing them to try and break down your construct, that's why things like walls and armor is a better idea than, say a bike helmet, because you believe a wall is stronger, and them trying to get past whatever it is will hurt."

"How much hurt are we talking?"

"Well how would you get past a wall?" Rachel paused looking each girl in the eyes. "You'd used a sledge hammer or a jackhammer, or dynamite. They could go the other way and try to dig under the wall or climb over it also and that doesn't hurt so much as make you nauseous. But it's kind of equivalent to how hard they try." Rachel paused again before shrugging. "Obviously none of us are telepaths so it's not like I can really test you or anything."

"I'm an Empath, aren't they similar?" Brittany was caught between picturing her cat wrapped around her head and wondering how Rachel knew so much.

"Empathy works differently then Telepathy, your thoughts are focused around your brain but your feelings can be anywhere, you breath them out or they seep from your pours, sometimes they come from your brain, but mostly they don't." Rachel flexed her fingers out before curling them back into a light fist, not missing how all eyes moved to her hands as she moved them. "So just practice picturing whatever you want and come Monday we'll see who Kurt notices first." All eyes were still on her hands so she pointed up to her face while saying. "Eyes up."

"Right sorry." Quinn and Brittany both looked apologetic, but Santana just looked like she had a question, Rachel figured she had already talked more than she had all week, so she might as well keep going.

"Ask." Rachel looked Santana hard in the eyes, the Latina stared back, determined to hold eye contact with the intimidating girl. Santana figured since she hadn't killed them yet then she probably wasn't going to. And she had saved Britt.

"Can I see them again?" Rachel held eye contact with the other brunette as she lightly fisted her hands palms down on her knees, making sure to hold her hands forward; she flexed the specialized muscle in her forearm and slowly released the claws from her hands that caused the taller brunette to break eye contact and her mouth to drop open. Rachel released a soft breath as she looked up towards the window focusing on the cloudy sky before she felt someone touch her hand. Rachel flinched at the unexpected contact, causing her eyes to focus back down and her claws to slide back into her hands with a loud Snackt. Quinn was looking down at her hand as she rubbed the place between her knuckles where a blade had just been; Rachel looked at her curiously as the blonde softly rubbed the small amount of blood away to see the now smooth skin beneath.

"Doesn't it hurt?" Quinn looked her in the eyes, Rachel looked back into soft hazel eyes, and she wanted to say no, wanted this girl who barely knew her not worry as much as she seemed to, but she knew she couldn't lie to her either, so she decided to do neither.

"I'm used to it." And Rachel let a small smile ghost across her face to show it didn't matter, but Quinn eyebrows furrowed again and Rachel wondered where she had gone wrong this time.

* * *

The sun had just started to come up when Shelby had finally come home, Rachel hadn't slept, but when her mother came into her room to check on her she feigned sleep to appease her. Rachel listened as her mother went to her own room then stopped moving around, she knew her mother had went to sleep, but she waited a good ten minutes before getting back up. The three Cheerios had left just before 5 the night before, and Rachel had then made herself a sandwich and stashed the fifty dollars her mother had given to her with the rest of her emergency money and trained all night. Her body ached as she climbed down from her room and to the bathroom to shower, and she stood under the hot spray long enough for it to run cold. Rachel dawned a pair of jeans and a navy tee shirt before putting on her boots and leather jacket; she put her cell phone in her pocket, stowed a knife in both her boot and jacket, and put a gun in the back of her pants, hidden by her coat, before leaving a note and heading out the front door.

Rachel avoided the park, but instead walked in the direction of the woods in the other direction. The tree's were dense and the underbrush wild were there wasn't a trail, but Rachel liked the feel of it, the freedom, the small animals scurrying in the trees, the deer she felt watching her, and the signs of larger life all around her. She could live in the forest if she had to, had lived in a forest before, but civilian life was making her soft, she was trying to keep it at bay, but she was getting used to three square meals a day and as intense as she tried to train herself nothing could compare to Leroy's smile as he waited for you to fail to push you harder. Hopefully the day would never come when Rachel had to face off against a hoard of Facility soldiers while dodging Leroy, J, and B, but Rachel was many things, none of which were hopeful. But as she walked through the forest Rachel tried to let her worry fall away, to not think about all the ways her life could go wrong, at least not right now, and just listen to the forest wake up.

A loud crash jolted her out of her daze and Rachel froze as she listened, another crash sounded, but the noise wasn't moving toward her, wasn't moving at all. Rachel moved through the brush towards the sound, there wasn't another crash, but she did hear grunting from a clearing just ahead of her. She hid behind a tree and peaked through a branch to see a large boy lying on his back on the ground, bench pressing five large logs that seemed to be bungee corded together. Judging from the size and length off the logs, Rachel guess that each weighed at least two hundred pounds, making to boys bundle easily a thousand pounds, and he was it lifting above his head with relative ease. Rachel stepped out into the clearing and purposely stepped on a stick to announce her presence, but the boy was spooked and shifted his grip on the bundle before throwing it at her.

The logs soared through the air towards her, Rachel duck low before springing back into the air and flipping her body around, feeling her hair graze the logs and landing facing were the logs were still crashing through the trees. Rachel turned around to see someone she recognized standing in the center of the clearing, D. Karofsky wore a sweat shirt that he had obviously cut the sleeves off of himself, a baggy pair of shorts, and worn looking tennis shoes, but more than anything Rachel noticed how he wore a wide eyed amazed look on his face, his mouth slightly open and his eye brows disappearing into his hair line. Rachel decided that he definitely wasn't going to talk first.

"I didn't mean to scare you." Rachel didn't move from where she had landed but to turn fully towards the boy. She kept her tone even and her face neutral, this was the same boy who just the day before had tried to beat her up for loving mutants, not even for being one, even though she was and so, it seemed, was he.

"It's ah, it's okay, I didn't mean to throw that at you." For such a large boy he didn't seem very sure of himself, Rachel had sensed that during their fights he was somehow holding back, but she hadn't guess he was holding back so much.

"It's alright, you didn't hit me." Rachel put her hands in her pockets to keep the chill away and took a few steps towards the boy, as she got closer she noticed the small amount of sweat on his brow, she wondered if he had just started his workout, or if the weight wasn't enough for him. "So you have super strength." It wasn't a question, and Rachel saw the boy flinch slightly, but there was no denying what he was, not after what she had seen him do. "I'm not judging."

"Right, because you're the freak lover." The malice in his voice confused her, they weren't at school, there was no one else around for him to convince, and surly he didn't hate himself as much as it sounded like he did. Rachel wondered if he knew about the others, if he thought he was alone in a place where no one understood him, surly he knew that wasn't the case.

"You think you're the only mutant in town." Rachel tilted her head slightly as she observed him, there was a sadness that she recognized in his eyes; but she was conflicted. "You aren't even the only mutant at school, come find me if you want to meet them." Rachel wasn't about to give up the others to an unstable boy who hated the part of himself that made the rest of them who they where, but there was something in her that couldn't let him think he was alone either. So with that Rachel turned and started walking away, leaving the boy to his workout.

"My names Dave." He looked like he wanted to say more, like he wanted her to stay, but she wanted to be alone, so instead she just turned and let one side of her mouth lift into a small half smile.

"I'm Rachel." Rachel turned and kept walking away, disappearing into the forest again, the name still felt strange on her lips, but she liked it. There had once been a time when she hadn't had a name, where she hadn't been anything, and slowly she was starting to think maybe she could a person if she just tried hard enough. That one day she would wake up and know she was safe, that her mother was safe, and that she had nothing to worry about; that one day she would be real. But for now, as Rachel walked through the forest, she just relished the warm feeling she got when she introduced herself by name to someone, because at least for now she had that.


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Hey, so, I hope you guys are still out there. I know I'm terrible, and I'm not even going to ask for forgiveness. Anyway, this chapter has no real action in it, but there is a lot of set up, so don't be sad. Also I want to address something I read in a review, someone asked if Shelby knew about the torture that took place in the last chapter, Shelby knew about everything that happened to Rachel when she was at the Facility, so think on that. Also I had a hard time writing the young section of this chapter, afterwards I felt a little gross with myself, so IMPLIED CHILD RAPE, if you don't want to read it skip down to the present age section. It was something I knew was coming and that was important to the character, but I dreaded it. So here it is, let me know what you think. Good or bad I love hearing what you guys think. Have a good one.**

**Also, I'm already a good chunk the way through the next chapter. It should be up before the end of the week. Promise.**

* * *

_Age 9_

R was confused, her usually mission prep was hours of poring over briefing files with a mission statement and building plans with escape routes plotted for her to memorize. Her usual mission uniform was combat boots, leather body armor, with an assortment of weapons. Her usual mission was to infiltrate and exterminate, and while she was glad to have that not be the case, something inside of her was screaming that something was wrong.

R let her hand trail over the simple white dress that she had been given to wear, it was soft, a different kind of soft than she was used to, and her feet were incased in small delicate looking slippers that gave her absolutely no support or strength; her hair had been washed and brushed until R couldn't even believe how silky it was before having it pulled back into a gentle half ponytail, keeping the hair from her face but letting it fall down her shoulders. And she was being driven to her mission, alone, in the back seat of a limo; she was usually riding in the trunk or in a box on board a plane.

The limo pulled to a stop and the door was pulled open by a large man in a black suit wearing sunglasses and a communicator in his ear. R stepped out of the limo and straightened her dress nervously as she noted she was in an underground parking garage, she had never worm something like this before and it made her feel vulnerable. The man closed the door behind her before putting a hand on her shoulder and leading her towards an elevator, and pushed the up arrow.

The ride was long and R noted that they were going all the way to the top of the building, 35 floors up, a tall building, but R had seen bigger. When the elevator dinged and the doors slide open the man simple pushed her out and let the doors close. The room R was in now was large and had a few doors, but what R was drown to were the large windows ,showing the cityscape, it was night, but the lights of the buildings were so bright that she couldn't see the stars.

When the elevator dinged again R couldn't stop the cold feeling that crept up her spine, she watched through the window as an overweight bald man stepped out of the elevator, she didn't move as she watched him notice her and let a malicious smile slither across his wide face. R had seen similar smiles on Leroy's face, but this man seemed worse somehow, she didn't know how that was possible. As the man started toward her the only words in her mission file flashed before her eyes. _Do as you are told until you are collected._

He was behind her now, and R kept still, not looking at him but out the window, only then noting how small she was in comparison to him, the top of her head only reaching his waist and R was sure if she stretched her arms out that he would still be wider than her. She had always been small, but she had never felt small until the moment his hand was on her back. He touched her hair, twisted it around his thick fingers a few times before brushing it to the side. Then his fingers were on the zipper of her dress, toying with it before pulling it down her back.

R was tense, she didn't know what to do or how to react, she hadn't been given any instruction. What was happening? The man's fingers where on her bare back causing goose bumps to rise up, but R still did nothing, she was here for a mission, she just didn't know what it was. This man had paid for her time, and R had heard Leroy say that people paid a million dollars a pound for her time, she wasn't sure how much she weighed but her claws alone were a lot. The fingers moved from her lower back up to her neck, and R almost breathed a sigh of relief, until they were forcing the soft white fabric from her shoulders. It slipped from her slender frame and pooled on the floor at her feet.

There was a noise behind her, but R stayed still, listening to what she thought was the sound of a belt unbuckling and another zipper being undone before she heard something behind her fall to the floor with a loud 'clunk'. R hadn't meant to flinch, but it had been so silent and she was scared; she didn't know why she was scared, didn't understand what was happening. But then the man was pushing her against the glass and holding her up until her feet no longer touched the floor. R wanted to fight, wanted to get the man off her, but she was frozen. The arm that wasn't braced against her shoulders holding her against the window then removed her panties with one swift movement.

The soft material of her panties was then against her neck and the man pushed himself against her, he buried his face in her hair before breathing in deeply. The man's body was holding her against the glass now, and the pressure hurt a little, but R was confused. The man's body was mostly wide and soft, but there was something hard against her legs. Then there was pain, R knew about a lot of different kinds of pain, but she had never felt a pain like this before. She felt wetness between her face and the glass, but never made a sound; R just wished that she could see the stars.

* * *

_Present Age 17_

Rachel had been in the forest for a few hours, she had moved away from the clearing where she had left Dave Karofsky and found a tree to meditate in in a denser part clump of trees. With her back to the trunk and her legs crossed under her, Rachel let the sounds of the forest wash over her, but when Rachel felt eyes on her she opened her own to look around. In an adjacent tree, a few branches down from her, was a large Black Panther staring up at her with curious dark brown eyes. But what stood out wasn't that there was a Panther in Ohio, but that the Panther seemed to be wearing a sports bra and a pair of spandex shorts with a hole cut out for the tail. The cat stared her down and licked its lips in a menacing manor, but Rachel held eye contact.

"Good morning Santana." The cat tilted its head to the side and yawned, exposing its large teeth, but Rachel didn't flinch away; instead, she stood and swung herself onto a lower branch and let her legs dangle. Santana looked down at her feet before closing her large eyes and shifting back into her human form.

Rachel watched with rapt attention as the hair covering her body seemed to retract into her skin, and her long slim tail that had been wrapped around her branch slowly shrunk and then was gone. The large strong legs of the Panther morphed into lithe arms and the large jaws Rachel had seen changed into small straight perfect teeth, the only thing that seemed to stay the same where the eyes, dark brown and staring her down, then a girl was sitting before her were a large jungle cat had just been, sitting with her legs wrapped around the branch while bracing her arms in front of her still in only a sport bra and spandex shorts.

"Morning Berry, I didn't expect to find you out here." Santana had been out for her morning run when she had smelled something familiar, and so what if she didn't always stay human when she ran, running just felt better somehow when she was on all fours, not to mention how much faster she could move. But when she had looked up into the trees to find the source of the smell, she saw Rachel Berry perched high up on a branch looking completely Zen. Santana wasn't at all comfortable around the other girl, and sometimes when she looked at her she just wanted to laugh, she was so small, but then Santana remembered how she fought, how she had fucking huge knives hidden in her arms, and how she had killed a man without a thought, and she didn't want to laugh anymore; she wanted to run away. Mostly she was just glad the other girl seemed to be pretty chill most of the time, Santana didn't really want to be around if she lost her temper. But now the smaller girl was looking down at her with her face completely blank, there was something calculating about her gaze, but she resolved to not be intimidated. "What are you doing out here?"

"Meditating, I find nature much more relaxing than my house."

"Are you sure this forest is safe, I mean there are some pretty scary animals out here." Santana smirked to herself, she could totally pull off a Grizzly Bear, that was something to fear, but Rachel just looked at her.

"I think I'm the scariest animal out here Santana." The taller brunette frowned, okay sure the girl had skills, but surely she wasn't that good.

"Grizzly Bear." Rachel nodded as she tucked a strand of brown hair behind her ear. "Lion." Rachel titled her head to the side and nodded again, one side of her mouth lifting up into a small smile. "Velociraptor?"

"You can do Dinosaurs?" Rachel looked genuinely curious, and Santana couldn't help but be amused by how the girl's eyes had widened slightly in wonderment.

"I can do anything without gills, I've never done a bug before but I don't really want to be a bug so that's okay." Santana had tried turning into a shark one time, she had got the body right but then she had tried to breath under water and nearly drowned, Brittany and Quinn had to pull her out of the lake and perform CRP. It was weird, but she could do Dolphins, Turtles, and Alligators, and with enough space she was sure she could pull off a Whale, it was just that her lungs didn't seem to want to change that much.

"That's interesting." Rachel supposed everyone had a limit to their ability, and even if the other girl couldn't do gills, she was still one of the strongest shape shifters she had met; she hadn't met anyone who could do Dinosaurs before.

"What about you? What's the worst thing you've ever healed from?" As nervous as Santana was around the girl, she figured it wasn't so much her fault, she seemed to be trying not to be an intimidating crazy psycho killer.

"Hm, once I regrew my arm." Rachel held out her left arm and looked down at it with a slight smile, she decided not to mention that her shoulder had also been torn off along with half her chest, that seemed like too much information. Rachel also decided not to tell the other girl that she knew the only thing she couldn't heal back from was having her head cut off, that just seemed a bit morbid. When Rachel looked back at the other girl her eyes were wide and her mouth was hanging open slightly, maybe that was still to gruesome.

"Didn't that hurt?"

"Yeah, but really it itched more than anything else." Her bones had itched something fierce as they regrew, and it had taken a full six hours for it to heal completely, then she had had to cut out her regrown bone claws and replace them with her Adamantium claws that she had salvaged from her severed arm, that had sucked more than a little too.

"Wow, that's hardcore." Santana was looking at her with something akin to awe, but Rachel was just confused, surely hardcore was not meant to be taken literally. "You know what? You're okay; super weird, and Hella intimidating sure, but okay."

"What? No, you are right to be wary of me." Rachel shook her head and ran a hand through her hair. "Someday something bad is going to happen, and it's going to be my fault, and you'll have to protect them, you and Noah, and Sam, and Mike will have to protect those who can't protect themselves." Rachel hadn't realized that talking to Santana would make the girl less nervous around her, make her like her, that had never happened before. But now Santana looked sad, her head titled to one side and her eyes had lost a bit of the hardness that seemed ever present.

"This bad thing that's going to happen, are you going to do it on purpose?" Santana's voice was even and curious and it lacked the bite that it usually held, but Rachel shook her head, she didn't see what that had to do with anything. "Is it going to hurt you as much as you seem to think it will hurt everyone else?" Rachel nodded but her eyebrows where furrowed and her mouth was pressed into a hard line, it would definitely hurt her just as much. "Then if this bad thing happens, you can help us to protect the others, even if it's your fault, as long as you do everything you can to try and stop it, than it'll be okay."

Santana didn't understand, and Rachel didn't know how to make her without saying that they could all die, as much as she wanted them all to avoid her, as much as she wanted to keep the innocent people she now knew from suffering because they knew her, she also wanted their company, she wanted to know and be known. There was so much she didn't understand. Rachel looked up as she felt a shift in the air, and snow started to fall, she then remembered that her companion was wearing very little and pulled off her jacket, throwing it over to the other girl.

"You must be cold." Santana looked at the jacket for a second before pulling it on and wrapping it tightly around herself.

"Thanks, I run hotter than normal, not as hot as Puckerman. I'm usually just shy of 100 degrees. Aren't you going to be cold?" Santana tried to ignore the slight bulge she felt under her arm where she guessed the other girl had stored a knife, at least she guessed it was a knife.

"I don't feel cold like a normal person does." Rachel felt the chill in the air, but she made no move to try and shield herself from it, just tried to relax her muscles and not tense up. She had learned a long time ago that lose muscles where warm muscles, as long as you didn't tense up your body would be warmer than if you did. "I feel the cold, but I can't get frost bite, my body adjusts it's self to the cold by its self." She wasn't sure how she did it, but her healing factor could keep her just warm enough to not pass out from hypothermia.

"Neat." Santana rubbed her arms over the soft jacket to warm herself before pulling it off and throwing it back to the other girl. "I've got to get going, I'm supposed to meet Britt and Q later so we can practice that telepath thing you taught us, but I'll see you Monday Berry." Rachel nodded to the girl and watched from her perch as the girl shifted back into a Black Panther, jumping from branch to branch agilely, then shifting into a large Black Lab once she hit the ground. The large dog looked up at her and barked once before bounding off into the forest and disappearing.

* * *

It was just after noon when Rachel decided that she had to head home, she hadn't realized how far the woods were from her house when she had walked there that morning, and she was a little stiff from her long stint in the trees. The snow had stopped and most of it had melted away, but there was still snow lingering on the trees and grass. It was beautiful, but Rachel felt uncomfortable, there were eyes on her, she knew it, but whenever she looked around for the source she could never find it. The eyes stayed on her for most of her walk; until she was on her street, and then they were gone.

There were children playing in the yard of Noah's house, two blondes and a brunette, Rachel knew the brunette to be Hannah Puckerman, but she didn't know the others; she stood in front of her house for a moment watching them as they tried to build a snowman. Rachel remembered when Shelby had helped her build her first snowman a little less than 2 years ago, she didn't understand what the point of the snow creature was, but she had done it anyway to make her mother smile.

"Rachel!" She looked away from the children to Noah who had called her name, he was smiling and waving for her to come over, she looked back at her house for a second before crossing the street and meeting the boy on his front lawn. "Hey, you want to come in, Sam and Mike are over, no Finn this time?"

"Sure." Noah's smile widened at her answer and he clapped her on the shoulder before leading the way. Once inside she heard the sound of laughing before she saw the boys.

"Look who I found." Noah walked in and took his place on the couch before picking up what Rachel guessed was a controller for some video game, a different one than she had seen before. Sam and Mike looked over at her then and while Mike smiled Sam was more hesitant.

"Hello." Rachel was standing awkwardly in the entry, eyeing the beer cans before moving to sit near Noah on the couch. "What are you playing?" That seemed like a safe enough question, but by the almost horror struck look on each boys face she knew she had guessed wrong.

"You've never played Super Mario Brothers?" Surprisingly it was Sam that had spoken up from his place on the lazy chair, but Rachel just nodded as she looked from boy to boy, they were acting like it was a sin. Then Sam was standing up and moving towards her with another controller and sitting on the arm of the couch handing her the device. "Well that changes right now."

"So you're the little blue mushroom guy." Rachel was focused on the screen while trying not to look down at her hands as Noah told her the basics. "Oh you kill the enemies by jumping on their heads, jump jump." This was ridicules, but as she jumped on the head of a brown mushroom guy she felt slightly accomplished as it was squished under feet and fell off the screen. "The red mushrooms are power ups, grab it, run." Suddenly she was a much bigger blue mushroom guy, which hardly made sense. "Jump on the turtle!" Rachel huffed as a red turtle jumped on her and she shrunk back down, she exacted her revenge while it's back was turned. "Fire Flower! Now you can throw fire balls." She was big again and multicolored, but hey fireballs made things much easier. "End flag, try and jump to the top, you get an extra life." She ran and jumped off a platform and her blue mushroom grabbed the top of the pole before sliding down and bowing towards her. Rachel decided she like this video game.

"This is much harder." Rachel didn't like it as much when all four of them played at once, it was a little crazy. "May I use your restroom?" Rachel put her controller down and stood as she waited to be directed.

"Sure, up the stairs second door on the left." Noah hadn't looked at her, instead choosing to focus on his little red plumber, but Rachel just nodded and moved to the stairs.

After washing her hands she left the bathroom to see the door on the opposite side of the hall was ajar, she didn't think it would be right to look around in the room but what she saw mounted on the back wall confused her and she needed to take a closer look. Stepping forward she pushed the door open further and took in the state of it. There was clothes strewn about, the bed was unmade, and there appeared to be a half eaten sandwich on the floor; but what drew her attention the most where the large posters covering the walls. Pictures of fancy vehicles with scantily clad women resting near or on them as they leered out at you. Rachel didn't know why her face was getting so warm as she let her eyes trace the lines of one woman's body, or why her mouth was suddenly dry as her gaze shifted to a blonde seated on a motorcycle in a bikini.

"You get lost?" Rachel jumped slightly as she turned to face Noah as he leaned against the door jam with a smirk on his face, she wondered how much time had passed for him to deem it necessary to come looking for her.

"Noah, I'm sorry I didn't mean to, um, to invade your personal space." Her brain didn't seem to be working properly, but the boy didn't seem particularly mad, if the smirk still on his face was anything to go by.

"Hey, it's cool; you'd be surprised by the number of friends that get distracted by the display on the way back down." Noah's smirk slowly morphed into something softer as he looked at her, red faced and fidgeting with her hands.

"Why do you have them?" They served no purposed that Rachel could see other than to make her uncomfortable, surly there was a reason that she just didn't see.

"Cause they're hot." Rachel frowned at this, judging by how little clothing each woman was wearing, it was easy to see that they were clearly vary warm as to have to strip down, but she wasn't sure that was really what he meant. As she gazed up at him with furrowed brows Noah frowned and scratched the back of his neck. "Because I like to look at them." But Rachel still just stared up at the boy blank faced, clearly not understanding, the boy coughed awkwardly as his face grew warmer. "Look maybe this is something you should take with your mom about, or maybe do some research on the internet. Can we talk about something else?"

"Of course." Rachel didn't know why the boy was suddenly as uncomfortable as she was, but there was something she had wanted to ask him. "I was in the woods this morning and I came across another mutant, one we go to school with but doesn't know about the rest of us, they think they're alone. I didn't tell them I was one, or give anyone else's name but I let them know there were others and to talk to me if they were interested in meeting them. Did I do the right thing?" Dave had seemed so alone and seemed to hate himself so much, where there was really no real need for it as there where half a dozen others who were going through the same thing he was. But what if the others didn't like the idea of bringing in someone new, someone who was so vocal about his hate?

"You met a mutant we go to school with but isn't in our group?" Noah's expression morphed into one of surprise as soon as she got the words out, the awkwardness of the earlier conversation all but gone. Rachel nodded and let the boy process the information. "But Kurt never let on that her felt another mutant there, how is possible that he missed them?"

"Maybe they never thought about it at school, or maybe they just naturally block telepaths, it is rare, but I've seen it before." The only other mutant who could naturally block telepaths had also had super strength, Rachel wondered briefly if that where a coincidence or if it had something to do with the nature of that specific mutation, the brain was just a type of muscle.

"Wow, okay, there's another mutant at school, I just thought it was the six of us." The boy paused briefly then smiled down at Rachel. "Well seven now, plus Quinn, but another person who we've know forever who's a mutant." Puck paused again and ran a hand through the strip of hair on his head and took a breath. "I can only imagine what they must feel like, you did the right thing in letting them know they aren't alone, but if they contact you about meeting the others I want Santana and me to go with you to meet them first, just to make sure that they know to keep the others a secret." Noah saw the questioning look on the shorter girls face and smiled slightly. "We did the same thing to Sam and Mike when they moved to Lima, just to make sure they weren't a danger to Britt and Kurt. We take care of our own, you included." Noah through and arm over the girl's shoulders with a smile before leading her out of his room. "Come on, let's go tell the boys the good news and play some Mario."

Rachel smiled up at the boy and let him lead her down the stairs and back into the living room where Sam and Mike where arguing about which princess was better, but all she could think about was how this boy considered her part of his group of people; a group that were friends, that she was someone for the group to protect and trusted enough to help protect them. She felt lighter as she sat down on the couch next to Mike, and even smiled back at the boy as he handed her a controller.

* * *

As Rachel crossed the street back to her own house she thought about how Noah had told her she needed to speak to her mother about the posters on his walls, she didn't know why, but the thought filled her with an unimaginable source of dread. She figured her mother may have some knowledge on why the sight of them made her feel so odd, but the feeling that as soon as she brought it up something terrible would happen was not a feeling that she liked. Rachel unlocked the front door quietly and as she opened it she heard her mother yelling from farther inside the house.

"I don't know how you even got this number, but you need to lose it!" Rachel shut the door just as softly as she had opened it and made her way silently through the house toward her mother. "What?! No! … NO! That's not happening!" Rachel paused just outside the door to the kitchen, but didn't peak her head around to get a look at the situation. Her mother was obviously on the phone, but Rachel had never heard her mother yell before. Not at anyone, ever. "You can't do that! ... Don't you play that card with me! It's not happening until I say it is. Just leave us alone!" Rachel listened as her mother took a deep breath and seemed to slam her phone down on the counter top.

"You can come out now." Rachel jumped slightly, her mother could never hear her moving when she didn't want her to, but she just took a deep breath and shoved her hands into her jacket pockets before moving from her place beside the door and into the room, avoiding making eye contact. "How much of that did you hear?"

"From 'lose my number' to 'leave us alone.'" Rachel made sure her own voice let nothing show and kept her gaze leveled on her shoes, but then her mother was moving towards her, putting one hand on her bicep and another under her chin to bring her eyes up to meet her own. Shelby looked conflicted, and sad, but mostly she just looked concerned as the hand on Rachel's bicep rubbed in warmth were she was unaware she was cold.

"You listen to me okay, you don't have to worry about the person on the phone, let me take care of it. It wasn't anything bad, and we don't need to leave. And I will never yell at you like I yelled at them, you don't need to be afraid." Rachel was confused, whoever was on the phone was obviously important, and if Shelby needed to yell at them, then maybe Rachel did need to worry about it. But her mother was a smart woman, practically a genius, and if she said she could handle something than Rachel had no reason to doubt her. So she nodded, but didn't say anything. Shelby just looked at her daughter for a long second before nodding to herself and bringing the girl into her arms, holding her close. "How was your day?"

"I meet another mutant in the woods this morning." Shelby pulled away and went back to fixing what Rachel assumed was to be dinner and Rachel sat on the opposite side on a stool watching her mother work. "He goes to school with me but wasn't part of the group I meet the first day, he has super strength." Shelby nodded as she went about rolling some type of egg mixture into tortillas. "He didn't know there were others in town, and he was one of the boys that tried to beat me up yesterday for liking mutants." Shelby frowned at this, Rachel had of course told her about the none fight, but it still made her angry that a large group of boys thought it was alright to gang up on a girl as small as her daughter, even if she had been able to defend herself rather spectacularly.

"Did you tell him about the others?"

"Not by name, but I told him that if he wanted to know more about them then to come talk to me, I told Noah while I was at his house playing Super Mario Brothers, and he said as long as I brought him and Santana with me the next time I talked to him then it was the right move, and that they would be open to bringing him into the group." Rachel saw her mother smile at the mention of playing Mario over at the Puckerman's, and figured the woman was happy she had people she could spend time with other than her. "Sam and Mike where there too, and Sam's little siblings, the blondes who where outside playing with Hannah Puckerman. I also talked to Santana this morning when I was in the woods." Shelby saw the girl frown slightly before Rachel watched her pull Tator Tots out of the oven.

"Breakfast for dinner." Shelby had to stifle a laugh at the baffled look on her daughters face.

"You can do that?" Shelby nodded and took a few plates out of the cupboard and started plating as her daughters face went pensive again. "I think she likes me now, at least more than she did before. We talked about our powers. She told me about how she can change into anything without gills, and I told her about the time I grew back my arm."

"Maybe that humanized you to her, before, maybe all she saw was this scary quiet girl who killed a man in front of her, maybe now that you've talked with her a little it's brought you down to her level and she has less reason to fear you." Shelby paused as she handed Rachel her plate, then furrowed her eyebrows. "Really anything without gills?"

"Even Dinosaurs." Rachel said, nodding as she bit into her breakfast burrito for dinner, and dunked a Tator Tot in a pile of ketchup. Shelby watched the girl with smile as she ate her own dinner, trying not to think about the call that had caught her off guard, it was quiet for a few minutes then Shelby saw the confused look on her daughters face and wiped her mouth with her napkin before leveling her gaze on the girl.

"What is it?" Rachel didn't look up, but continued to push the remaining ketchup on her plate around with her only remaining Tator Tot. "Rachel, look at me please." The girl looked up from her plate then and Shelby could see there was something she wasn't saying. "You know you can talk to me about anything. What is it?"

"I, um." Rachel paused and pushed her plate away from her and clasped her hands in her lap, threading and unthreading her fingers as she looked down at them. Shelby watched the girl struggle for words, but didn't press again, knowing that it could take some time for her daughter to find the words that she wanted. It was a long few minutes later when Rachel took a deep breath and swallowed hard before meeting her mother's gaze. "When I was at Noah's today, I saw something in his room that confused me." Rachel paused again and Shelby saw the muscles in her jaw working as she clenched her teeth together.

"It's okay to ask questions when you don't understand something Sweetie."

"I feel like something bad will happen if I ask about this." Rachel put a hand against her stomach and fought the urge to let her dinner come back up. Shelby stood up and moved around the counter to stand in front of her daughter and took her face in her hands, speaking slowly and calmly, as if to a baby.

"All the more reason to talk to me about it." Shelby made sure she was holding Rachel's gaze before continuing. "Nothing bad is going to happen as long as we have each other." Rachel nodded once and took another deep breath as her mother sat on a stool next to her and took one of her hands in her own slightly larger ones.

"When I was coming out of the bathroom I noticed that the door across the hall was open, and I felt like I just had to go in. I didn't mean to snoop, I promise." Shelby squeezed her daughters had, letting her know it was alright, that it didn't matter. "Then when I pushed the door open, I saw posters on the walls, posters of women in their underwear leaning against fancy cars, and I just couldn't bring myself to look away; then my face got all hot, and my mouth got all dry. I felt really weird." Rachel looked away from their joined hands then and turned her head so she wasn't looking in her mother's direction and closed her eyes. "The only other time I've felt that way was when I was with Quinn, and I don't understand what's wrong with me."

"Oh Honey." Shelby took a deep breath and gripped her daughters hand tighter, she didn't say anything for a minute as she let this new information sink in. "Do you remember when we had that talk about attraction and sex?"

"You said the missions didn't count because I didn't want it." Shelby swallowed thickly at the casual mention of those specific missions, but powered through anyway.

"Right, and that's still true, but do you remember what else I said? About how you may feel when you're attracted to someone? How odd it may feel the first time, how all you'd be able to think about is them, and how you might blush a lot, or get the feeling of butterflies in your stomach?" Shelby watched Rachel's face as her expression changed from scared to confused, and she only had to wait another few seconds before the girls mouth dropped open slightly and shock registered on her face.

"Are you saying I'm attracted to women?"

"I'm saying you really need to think about what you're feeling, and that it would be alright if you were." Shelby smiled as the girls eyebrows drew together and she focused hard on the wall in front of them. "It would be perfectly natural for you to feel attracted to other girls, and it would perfectly natural for you to be attracted to boys, the world isn't just gay and straight, and no matter who you're attracted to I would still love you and be proud of you."

"I'll think about what you said." Shelby sat at Rachel's side silently for another few minutes before smirking.

"Quinn is a lovely girl, very beautiful." She watched as a bright red blush rose on her daughters face. "And don't think I haven't seen those cheerleading uniforms, they leave very little to the imagination don't they."

"Mom!" Rachel stood up fast and let go of her mother's hand, her face beet read and her eyes wide. Shelby laughed lightly and stood as well before drawing the girl into a tight hug. Rachel didn't reciprocate right away, but then Shelby felt Rachel relax and wrap her arms around the older woman, almost melting into her.

"I'm just teasing you Sweetie." Rachel felt her mother press a light kiss into the top of her head and she suddenly felt very tired in her mother's arms. Shelby must have felt it to, because then she was rubbing her back and pulling away. "Why don't you go to bed early tonight? You don't have to sleep, but why don't you just go rest and think about things."

Rachel didn't even have the energy to argue, but just nodded and kissed her mother on the check before saying goodnight and making her way up to her room where she changed into a tank and a pair of sleep shorts and feel into her bed. She lay on her back letting her body relax into the softness of her bed, looking up and out the one small window in her room at the darkened sky. She hadn't thought about the possibility of her being gay before, it hadn't even crossed her mind. She knew about queer people and all the different orientations for a person's sexuality, but in a very clinical sense. And the more she thought about it, the less she liked the idea of being gay herself, there was already so much otherness to her and she felt like she didn't need any more. Then her phone light up on her nightstand.

**Hey, I'm going to the Mall tomorrow with San and Britt and was wondering if you wanted to come along. –Q **

Rachel's heart rate speed up and she was suddenly smiling wider than she could ever remember smiling. It was like Quinn knew just when she needed her, and Rachel wanted to be around her, she wanted to be around her more than anything else in the world. And in that moment Rachel didn't care about how unfair the world was to put her through so much and expect her to not break down, that same world had brought Quinn to her.

**Sure. -R**


End file.
